There Can Be No Witnesses
by Deliwiel
Summary: When Jack and MacGyver are sent to Russia to grab a corrupt DXS agent, they end up running for their lives and protecting a witness to a murder. Rated T just for my paranoia's sake.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey hey hey! So I thought it was time to go ahead and start posting another one of my chapter stories! I hope it's one that you'll all enjoy! :D**_

 _ **These wonderful characters don't belong to me, except for my OC's, of whom I am actually quite proud of :D**_

 _ **If you find any mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix them! I read over it several times, and I think I caught most everything, but I could be wrong!**_

"He's one of ours," Thornton stated as she looked at the two agents in front of her. "I want to get him back before another agency has the chance to grab him. We deal with our own."

"Yes ma'am," MacGyver said.

"We'll get him back," Jack promised.

"Good. Wheels up in an hour. I'd pack something warm; you're going to Russia."

 _0-0-0_

Anja Smirnov walked through the streets, having just left work for the day. She was planning on going home, but she wanted to stop off somewhere and grab a bite to eat first. As she walked down the street, she saw her favorite little cafe come into view, and her heart lifted just a little bit. It had been a rough day, and she knew that her favorite comfort food would do her good.

She walked inside and sat at a table, waiting for a waitress to come and take her order. As she glanced at the menu, she felt a little uneasy; it almost felt as if someone were watching her. The feeling didn't leave, so after a few moments she set the menu down and turned around in her seat, glancing at all the diners casually. Her eyes landed on three men sitting at a table four or five spaces away from her. She wasn't positive, but she thought they looked away from her right as she glanced their way. She shook her head, berating herself sightly. She had no real reason to be skeptical or accusatory of the men; they had simply been staring at her when she walked in, and she was used to that. They hadn't done or even said anything to make her this distrustful.

A waitress came up to take her order, distracting Anja from the men. She ordered her food and drink, then leaned back in her seat while the waitress walked away, just trying to ignore everything around her and have peace for a little bit. Work had been hectic. They had lost four major clients because her co worker was unprofessional and didn't know how to be courteous on the phone, and she had been yelled at by her boss for something she had literally no control over, making her more frazzled than she usually was.

A few minutes later, her drink was brought to her, and she began sipping it, loving the warm feeling the drink spread through her body. She occasionally glanced towards the men in suits, but they seemed to have completely forgotten about her, so she let them slip from her mind. Soon her food was brought out, erasing all thoughts of anything but the meal in front of her. She hadn't gotten a lunch break at work because she had been trying to clean up the mess her coworker had caused that her boss had blamed her for, so she was starving.

She was a little more than halfway through her meal when the men stood up from their table and left, leaving no tip for the waitress behind. When the waitress came to clean up their plates, she looked at the table and her brows furrowed in annoyance.

"Skryaga," Anja heard the woman mutter as she cleared the plates away. Anja felt a little bad that the woman had been gypped of her tip, so when Anja was done eating a few minutes later, she left a bit more on her tip than she usually would have. She stood up and walked out the door, button her coat and glancing behind her to see the waitress pick up the tip and look back at her with a grateful look in her eyes. Anja smiled back and inclined her head slightly before pulling her scarf up over her mouth and nose. She opened the door and stepped out into the bitter-cold streets.

She walked with her head down, trying to keep the wind from blowing in her face as much as she could, but she slowed down when she thought she heard something. She stopped walking and stared around her in confusion, wondering if the wind had simply made it sound like someone had been talking. She eventually began walking again, but stopped once more as she definitely heard what sounded like a man speaking. She followed the sound as best she could, which led her to the mouth of an alley.

"That wasn't a very smart move," she heard someone with an American accent say as she approached the alley. "Why would you rat me out to the government? I would have shared a piece of the profits with you. You were my partner."

Anja stopped just outside the alley and listened, not sure what was going on. She slowly peeked around the corner and saw three men with their backs to her. She couldn't be positive, but she could have sworn they were the men from the diner. There was one more man with them, but unlike the others, who looked powerful and like they weren't to be messed with, this man was on his knees with his hands raised up in a pleading gesture.

"Please," the man on his knees was begging. The man in the middle moved his upper body in a swinging motion suddenly, and the man kneeling clutched at his now-bleeding forehead.

"Do they know where I am?" the American man asked. "Do they?" he asked again louder when the man he was standing in front of didn't answer.

"I-I don't know!"

"Liar!" the American yelled, swinging his hand again. Anja heard a hard sound, like something hard was hitting something softer, and she saw the metal shape of a gun. She put her hand over her scarfed mouth to try and stay as quiet as she possibly could. The man who had formerly been kneeling was now on his side, clutching at his face in pain, with a hint of fear in his eyes. He caught sight of Anja, but didn't let on that he had seen her; his eyes simply flicked back up towards the men towering above him.

"Who all knows where Wilder is?" the man on the right asked, his Russian accent thick. The man they were interrogating shook his head, which didn't seem to make the three men happy at all. A swift kick to his middle had the man groaning in pain.

"Just tell us what we want to know and we'll let you go," the American promised soothingly. The captive spit at the American's feet, and the American retaliated with another kick to the stomach. He then crouched down next to his writhing captive.

"You know," he said as he leaned in closer to his captive. Anja had to strain her ears to hear what he was saying, because he had begun talking in a much quieter voice. "I'm going to take your silence as confirmation that they do indeed know where I am, and that they'll be sending agents to collect me soon," he stated. "Therefore, you've become of no use to us."

The American stood up, and before Anja could even comprehend what was happening, the man to the American's left fired two shots, and the man on the ground went limp. Anja couldn't stop the muffled scream that escaped her lips, and the three men whirled around. Anja had a split-moment where she confirmed that they were really the men from the diner, but she couldn't waste time thinking about that as she turned, running as fast and as hard as she had ever run in her life. She heard shouting coming from the alley, and shots began sounding all around her. Bullets pinged off the bricks to her side, sending dust into her eyes, but she didn't stop. She chanced a glance behind her and saw that the three men were still in pursuit, and that they seemed to be slowly gaining on her.

She forced herself to go faster, pumping her legs harder and harder, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the murderers. She looked ahead of her and saw a street rapidly approaching. It wasn't extremely crowded, but her heart lifted a little bit as she realized she may be able to blend better, and she ran even harder. The men had stopped firing their guns, but another glance behind her informed her that they hadn't stopped chasing her. Her breathing was coming in sharp, ragged gasps that had begun creating a stitch in her side, making it even more difficult to breathe. She also wasn't able to tell if the tears in her eyes were from the cold air blowing into them as she ran, or if she was actually crying out of fear.

She rounded a corner and looked back, glad to see that she was a decent distance away from the men trying to kill her. She turned her head back to the front so that she could see where she was going, but she turned around right as she ran smack-dab into a broad-shouldered person, who grabbed her with a firm grip, stopping her from running.

 _ **Woohoo! Anja! You guys said you wanted a back story for her, right? Hopefully this lives up to what people are wanting! Also, if any of you catch any inconsistencies that I've had with other stories that had Anja in them (Jellybean & The Trouble With Jack), please let me know, and I'll go in and fix them! **_

_**Let me know what you think!**_

 _ **skryaga=cheapskate, google translation.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Okay! Onto chapter 2! I'm so glad you're all so excited about the story :D Also, I realized that I forgot to put the translation at the bottom of last chapter, so I've fixed that, but I'm also putting it in this AN so that you don't have to go back if you don't want to :)**_

 _ **skryaga=cheapskate, google translation.**_

 _ **The translations for this chapter will be in the bottom AN :)**_

 _ **I own nothing of this wonderful show *lowkey cries)**_

The plane carrying MacGyver and Jack touched down, taxiing to a stop while the two agents put on their coats, hats, and scarves. The plane finally ceased moving, and the two agents waited for the stairs to be rolled up to the side of the plane, then the two of them walked down the stairs. Thornton had told them she wanted them to have Wilder in custody within twenty-four hours, and that the plane would be back to pick them up then.

"Come on," Jack said, shouldering his backpack and leading the way to the car that was waiting for them at the end of the airstrip. He was a good distance ahead of his younger partner, so Mac lengthened his stride a little, finally catching up with the older man. One of the men from the plane had given Jack the keys to the car, and he pulled out the fob and unlocked the car. Once they reached their car, they slung their backpacks in the trunk. The two of them then climbed in, Jack taking his usual place in the driver's seat, while Mac hopped in the passenger seat. Once the doors were closed, Jack inserted the key into the ignition, and the car roared to life.

"I love these foreign models," the older man said with a happy sigh as he listened to the engine purr.

"Well, once you're done confessing your feelings to your new love, would you mind taking us to the last place we know Wilder was?" Mac asked snarkily. "We are on a deadline," he reminded Jack.

"Dude, it's twenty-four hours," Jack said, waving his hand at his friend in a 'calm-down' motion. "We've got plenty of time to find him. We just need to track him down, grab him, and hightail it somewhere that we can lay low and wait out the clock until the plane comes back to pick us up," he said.

"Yeah Jack," Mac said sarcastically. "When has anything ever gone that smoothly for us?"

"You're jinxing us, dude," Jack griped at his partner. "Just chill. Things are gonna be fine," he said.

"I'm just trying to be realistic," Mac pointed out. Jack rolled his eyes at his partner.

"What's wrong with trying to look at things optimistically?" he asked.

"There's nothing wrong with being optimistic," Mac conceded. "It's just smarter to be realistic on missions, and plan for things to go sideways," he finished. He and Jack continued to argue as Jack put the car into drive, pulling away from the airstrip and driving into the cold city streets in Russia.

0-0-0

"Okay, so just to run over things again, Agent Dunn is the guy who told Thornton everything that Wilder was doing. He was Wilder's partner," Jack said as he pulled the car into a parking space. "According to Thornton, which means according to Dunn, Wilder hangs out around this part of town. Makes sense," he added as he looked around at all the posh apartment buildings surrounding them. "Wilder did always have a taste for the more expensive life."

"Yeah well, let's hope that his security isn't too hard to get past," Mac commented as he pulled out his lock picking kit out of his backpack and slipped it into his back pocket.

"Again with the negativity, dude!" Jack complained. "Can you please just let me have a moment where things could potentially work out well for us?"

"Sorry," Mac replied sarcastically as they crossed the parking lot. "I'll try and keep my realistic talk to a minimum."

"Thank you," Jack said, with a tone that clearly indicated that was all he had wanted to hear.

The two agents walked towards the apartment that Dunn had said Wilder was staying at. "Did Thornton say which room he was in?" Jack asked as they walked into the apartment building.

"No," Mac said. "But it's a good thing he has a call button," he added, pointing to the doorbell-looking things, along with a list of names on the wall next to the apartment numbers.

"That would be a good thing, Mac, if those names weren't all in Russian," Jack pointed out. "Besides, I doubt Wilder was stupid enough to use his own name, though I'd probably kiss him if he did," he added.

"What was it that you were saying about nothing going wrong on this mission?" Mac asked with a smirk as he looked over the Russian names.

"Okay, this isn't something gone wrong, it's just a minor setback," Jack countered, not wanting to admit that things may not go as smoothly as he wanted them to. "I know," he said after a minute. "I'll go chat it up with one of the female tenants. One of them should be able to tell us what we want to know, and none of them will be able to resist the Jack Dalton charm," he added with a charming, toothy smile.

"No need for that, Jack," Mac said as he began walking towards the stairs. "I already know which room he's in. 308."

"What?" Jack asked as he caught up with his young partner. "How'd you figure that out?"

"Easy. He's the one with the name plate that said John Wayne."

"First of all, is he really stupid enough to use his favorite cowboy's name as his alias here?" Jack asked, shaking his head in disbelief. Mac shrugged as they walked up the stairs. "Second," Jack continued. "I ask again: How did you know that's what the name plate said? Do you know Russian too?" he asked incredulously.

"Enough to get by," Mac replied nonchalantly as he began jogging up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Learn something new about you every day," Jack muttered, shaking his head in amusement before following Mac's suit and catching up to his young partner. The two of them made their way to the third floor and wandered down the hallway until they found door number 308. Jack pressed his ear against the door and softly tried the knob.

"It's locked," he whispered. "I can't hear anything inside; I don't know if he's home or not," he informed the young man. Mac looked around and walked over to a closet. He opened it and pulled out a wire hanger before he walked back to Jack, where he crouched down in front of the door, straightening the wire as he moved around. Once he straightened it enough, he slipped it under the door crack.

"What are you doing?" Jack hissed, worried that Mac was going to give them away. Mac waved Jack off as he fished around under the door for a minute. He finally brought the hanger back out, and with it came a letter, which Mac immediately inspected as he stood up.

"So now you're reading his mail?" Jack asked sarcastically in hushed tones. Mac rolled his eyes at his partner, then turned it around and pointed to the corner. "What if he's in there and he saw your little fishing pole?" he added.

"Jack, now it's you who sounds like you're getting worried," Mac observed. "Besides. I don't think he's home."

"What makes you say that?" Jack asked, choosing to ignore his partner's comment about his worry.

"It's postmarked yesterday," Mac indicated.

"So?" Jack asked. "That just means that he hasn't picked up the mail from this morning. He could still be in bed, or maybe he's doing some cleaning and hasn't realized the mail has come yet."

"Jack, it's 11:30 in the morning," Mac pointed out drily. "I doubt that Wilder has stayed in bed all morning, especially since he's now working with the mafia and potentially trading state secrets. I think we're fine," the blond said. "Besides, if he is here, that means that you were right and the rest of our job is easy," he added with a smirk. Jack rolled his eyes, but gestured for his partner to continue with whatever he had been doing.

Mac pulled out his lock picking set and bent over, slipping the tools into the lock. After a few seconds of twisting and turning, the two of them heard the lock click open, and Jack slowly pushed the door open, gun held out in front of him.

The Delta soldier moved quickly throughout the apartment, clearing each room while Mac wandered in. The blond absentmindedly slipped the solitary lock picks he'd used to open the door into his back pocket, thinking to himself that he'd put them back in the kit in a little bit. He glanced around the apartment, not surprised at all by how expensive everything looked.

The kitchen was immediately to his right, and he saw dishes in a sink full of water. He stuck his pinky in the water; it was cold, and he took that to mean that Wilder hadn't been here for a while, seeing as how the rest of the kitchen was spotless, and Mac didn't think Wilder would leave dishes in the sink if he were there to clean them.

"All clear," Jack said as he came back out of the hallway and faced his partner. He put his gun back in his holster and looked around at the apartment they were in. The living room was north of the kitchen, and there was a long hallway that ran down the length of the apartment. A bathroom was on one side of the hall while the bedroom lay on the other side. Mac moved towards the bedroom first, knowing that most private stuff was usually kept in bedrooms to keep away from prying eyes of visitors.

He pushed the bedroom door open and walked in. As he looked around, he noticed the dresser had stacks of paper on it, and he walked over to the piece of furniture. He heard Jack coming in behind him, and he held up a few of the papers to show his partner. "Government secrets," he said as he went through the stack. "Nothing too serious, but I'm sure not gonna wait around for Wilder to decide he wants to sell bigger secrets for more money," he said. He went to gather the rest of the papers, but paused when he saw a file folder on the dresser, underneath some of the other papers. He picked it up and opened it. When he saw what was inside, his eyes went wide.

"Mac?" Jack prodded gently when he saw his friend's expression. Mac handed the file to Jack and pulled out their sat phone, dialing Thornton. Jack flipped through the file and his stomach dropped. The file was on Agent Dunn, the man who had informed them of Wilder's betrayal. The folder had everything: photos of Dunn wandering the streets of Russia, notes about where he was staying, where he liked to eat, etc.

"Thornton," Mac said when their boss picked up. "I need the location of Agent Dunn." There was a brief pause as Thornton asked what was going on, and then Mac continued. "I think Wilder knows it was Dunn who ratted him out, and I think he's in danger."

0-0-0

Their car screeched to a halt as Jack slammed on the brakes, then threw the vehicle into park. Once that was done, both he and Mac jumped out of the car.

"Come on," Mac said as they began jogging down the street. "According the Thornton, Dunn's last known location was just down here," he said. They picked up their pace, preparing to run around the corner, but before they could get around it, a woman came tearing around the corner and crashed into Jack.

"Woah, easy!" he said, gripping her shoulders gently but firmly. "Are you okay?" he asked, noticing the tears streaking down her face. She tried pulling away from him.

"Net, net, pozvol'te mne uyti!" the woman shrieked. "They're coming!"

"Who's coming?" Jack asked, his gut telling him that he already knew the answer. Mac moved around the struggling pair and looked around the corner. He saw Wilder and two men running towards them, and he made eye contact with the traitor. He saw recognition, then anger dawn in Wilder's eyes, and Mac knew they had to leave.

"Jack, we gotta get her out of here!" Mac said as he watched Wilder pull out his gun and aim it at him. He ducked behind the corner just as shots began ringing out, causing the civilians on the street to scream and duck. That gave Jack and MacGyver the perfect opportunity to get some cover. "Go, go, go!" Mac shouted, pushing Jack in the direction of their parked car. Jack pulled the woman with them; she was fighting and trying to get away from the two agents, but Jack was stronger than her by far.

Mac and Jack raced down the streets with the woman in tow, ducking in and out of different side-streets to try and lose Wilder and his friends. They finally approached their parked car from behind, having circled the entire city block plus some, and by the time the car was in sight, everyone was panting and sweating despite the cold temperatures. Mac tugged at his scarf as they approached the car. The blond heard grunting and frustrated noises, so he turned to see what his partner was doing. If their predicament hadn't been so serious, Mac would have chuckled at the comicality of the sight. The woman looked like she had been clawing and scratching Jack to get away, and Jack was understandably getting frustrated.

"Hey, just calm down, would ya?" Jack asked exasperatedly as the woman continued to fight him. "We're not the ones waving guns and shooting at people!"

"Jack, you realize this is kind of kidnapping, right?" Mac reminded him. "I'd be fighting to get away too."

"Fine," Jack relented, releasing the woman from his grip. "There, see? We aren't the bad guys!" he promised. The woman had immediately backed away from, rubbing her arms as she stared at them with a fearful expression.

"Why are they after you?" Mac asked calmly, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture. The woman shook her head, obviously not wanting to talk. "It's okay," Mac assured her, backing up just a little. "We just want to help. Can you tell us what happened?"

After a few seconds, the woman finally began speaking. "Ya videl ikh ubit' cheloveka," she muttered, still backing away slightly. Jack gave Mac a confused look, and Mac continued staring at the woman.

"They… they killed someone?" he asked in clarification, his stomach dropping. She nodded her head.

"Da," she replied. "I...saw them...murder man," she said in halting English.

"Who did they kill?" he asked slowly, wanting to help calm her down. He had the sinking feeling he already knew who had been killed, but he wanted to make sure he was right before they made any rash decisions.

"American," she said, pointing at him. Mac wasn't sure if she was asking if he was American, or if she was telling him that it was an American that had been killed.

"Are you saying an American was killed?" he clarified.

"Da," she replied. She sat there for a moment before her eyes filled with tears and she put her hand over her mouth. Her breathing began to become more labored, and the two agents could clearly see her body shaking.

"Her adrenaline is wearing off, she's going into shock," Jack said, moving forward. He moved at just the right moment; the woman's knees fell out from under her and Jack was able to catch her. He picked her up and moved towards the car, but when the woman saw what was happening she began struggling again, crying out in fear.

"Jack, put her down!" Mac said. Jack gave a slightly frustrated sigh but did as he was told. He kept his hand under her elbow to give her a little bit of support as she leaned against the car though.

"We're not going to hurt you," Jack promised. "We're going to get you out of this mess. We'll protect you," he said. She stared at him with distrustful eyes, but she finally nodded in understanding. She looked over at Mac and began speaking in her halting English again.

"You...good guys?" she asked. MacGyver smiled warmly at her and nodded.

"Da," he said. "My khoroshiye rebyata."

She giggled slightly. "Your accent not very good," she informed him. MacGyver laughed, glad to see that she seemed to be warming up to them.

"My name is MacGyver," he introduced. "This is my partner Jack."

"Hey there," Jack said with a little wave.

"Anja," she replied, gesturing at herself.

"Do you think you could tell us what you saw?" Mac asked. He hated asking her when he could obviously see that it was painful, but he knew that the longer they waited, the more time Wilder would have to find them. He felt relieved as Anja nodded.

"Can you tell us what happened as we drive?" Jack asked. "Now that our little jog is over, I'm pretty sure my sweat is creating icicles all over my body. I'm freezing, and I would love to get somewhere out of the cold," he admitted.

"Da," Anja agreed. Mac held open the door for her, then climbed in the passenger seat after shutting her door. Jack started the car and cranked up the heat before they drove away, and Anja began telling her story.

0-0-0

"I can't believe you let her get away!" Anatoly raged at Wilder. Anatoly Popev was the mob boss Wilder had been selling American secrets to, and right now, he was not happy.

"It wasn't like I let her saunter away without doing anything!" Wilder shot back angrily. He was pacing around, agitated, like a caged animal. He didn't want to point out that Anatoly himself had also been there and had 'let the girl get away.' Wilder liked everything on his body the way it was, and if he accused Anatoly of not doing everything in his power, Wilder knew that his body parts would be rearranged.

"Well I certainly hope you have a way of getting us to her," Anatoly snapped. "We can't have any loose ends. You know the rule: no witnesses."

"That's not going to be as easy as it sounds," Wilder admitted with a groan, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"What do you mean?" Popev's voice was dangerously soft, and Wilder knew he had to tread carefully.

"Those two men she was with? They're DXS; part of my old organization," Wilder explained. "And not just any agents; they're the best the organization has to offer," he said. "Jack Dalton and Angus MacGyver. They're both ex-military, and MacGyver is probably the smartest man I've met."

"Mm, and he was the older one?" Anatoly assumed.

"No, he was the young blond kid," Wilder replied tiredly. The mob boss looked skeptical; the kid hadn't looked older than twenty-one, if that. "You think I'm joking?" Wilder asked. "The kid's a genius. I once saw him fix a blown fuse with nothing but some tin foil from his gum wrapper. He plugged a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate, he-"

"Alright, I get it," Anatoly said exasperatedly. "Kid's good. Does that mean you are going to give up?" he asked, staring at the man with a dangerously calm expression.

"Of course not," Wilder snapped. "It just means it's gonna take more planning than it usually does, that's all."

"Well then you'd better get planning," Anatoly said. "I'll get some men to track the woman. There was a camera across the street; it must have gotten a good look at her face. If we find her, we find this MacGyver," he said, sneering as he pronounced the name. "Let them try to hide. This is my city, and my city plays by my rules."

 _ **Translations:**_

 _ **net, net, pozvol'te mne uyti=no no, let me go!**_

 _ **YA videl ikh ubit' cheloveka=I saw them kill a man**_

 _ **My khoroshiye rebyata=we're the good guys**_

 _ **Also, all the things Wilder said he'd seen Mac do are different MacGyverisms from the old series XD We're just gonna pretend they'd work, even if they don't!**_

 _ **Also, in the original series of MacGyver, Mac seemed to know a ton of languages, at least enough to get by, and in season three, he met a young woman from Russia and he told her that he could speak it, but that his accent was terrible, so that's where I got the idea it was okay to figure that Mac knew some Russian.**_

 _ **So? Thoughts? Are people In Character?**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3! You guys are so lucky...the chapters are turning out to be really long...sorry about that XD Shoutout to the people who have been so supportive to me while writing this story! Obviously all of my reviewers, followers, and favorites but also a huge shoutout to helloyesimhere and SheWhoRunsMazes for being great friends and always being willing to talk! You guys are the best!**_

 _ **Longer AN at the bottom :)**_

Jack pulled their car into a run-down motel parking lot and turned off the engine. A few moments ago, Mac had handed their passenger a few pictures, one of Wilder and one of Dunn, asking her if she could confirm that these were the men whom she saw. Anja handed Mac the pictures back after her examination, nodding her head and confirming that those were two of the men that were in the alley. Mac accepted the pictures back, his mouth slanting in slight disappointment, even though he knew that there was a slim chance Dunn had still been alive once Mac saw Wilder.

Everyone exited the car and walked towards the front office of the motel. They entered the building, grateful for the small bit of warmth the indoors provided. There was a small TV mounted on the wall, playing some sort of Russian movie at the moment. There was no one else in the room with them besides the clerk at the front desk, and Mac walked up to the young man behind the counter, pulling out his wallet.

"Odna komnata pozhaluysta," Mac requested, pulling some money out of his wallet. The clerk looked bored as he accepted the rubles and handed the blond a key. Mac checked the tag on the key, then looked at the map of the motel layout provided, seeing that the room they had been assigned to was in a building near the back of the lot. "Spasibo," Mac said, holding up the key. The clerk shrugged, clearly more interested in getting back to whatever he was watching.

"Gracias," Jack called out as he and Mac led Anja out the door.

"Jack, you do know that's Spanish, right?" Mac asked.

"I'm sure he understood what I meant," Jack said, brushing Mac's linguistics lesson aside. Mac rolled his eyes but let it drop; it wasn't worth arguing over, and he was sure an argument was only going to agitate all of them, especially Anja, more than they already were.

The three of them walked back out into the bitter cold, shivering against the harsh, biting wind as they quickly made their way to their building. They finally reached it and opened the door, walking down the hallway; they found their room was in about the middle of the hall. Mac inserted their key and pushed the door open, revealing a small room with a single bed as the main object of focus. There was an armchair by the window, as well as a small TV sitting on a dresser in front of the bed. Once they were inside, Anja immediately walked over and collapsed on the chair, placing her head in her hands. The open curtains made MacGyver nervous, so he walked over to close them.

"Hold on," Mac said, walking over and shutting the curtains. Anja looked up at him with a curious look on her face, and Mac answered, "We don't want anyone to see us, just to be on the safe side," he explained.

"I...understand," Anja replied, pausing for a moment to search for the correct word. "Thank you for helping me," she added.

"Pozhaluysta," he replied, giving her a warm smile. Mac helped the young woman take off her coat and he laid it across the back of the chair. He and Jack removed the majority of their winter clothes as well, Mac only leaving on a jacket, seeing as how the room was actually decently warm, at least compared to the frigid temperatures outside. Mac and Anja continued talking, both in halting Russian for MacGyver and halting English for Anja.

"Hey, I'm gonna call Patty," Jack said, interrupting the two of them briefly. Mac nodded, then went back to talking with their witness, trying to keep her as calm as he could. Jack watched the two of them for a moment more before he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, making sure it was left just open enough that he didn't need a key to get back in. Once he made sure he wouldn't be locked out, he pulled out his sat phone.

"Patty?" he asked when his boss answered.

"Jack, what's going on?" Thornton asked. "Did you find Dunn?"

"Sorry Patty," Jack said quietly. "Agent Dunn is dead," Jack apologized. "Wilder got to him before we could."

"Well, please tell me you have Wilder?" Thornton asked. Jack could almost see her pinching the bridge of her nose as she waited for his response.

"Not...exactly," Jack said slowly, unsure of how his boss was going to respond. There was a deep sigh, then Thornton responded.

"Why not?" she asked. Jack could tell she was working to keep her voice steady. He knew there was a bit of anger and frustration in her tone, but he could tell that most of it was sadness. Patty hated losing agents; Jack could count on one hand the number of agents they'd lost since he started working with DXS because Patricia Thornton did everything in her power to make sure her agents were kept safe.

"We had to get a witness to safety," Jack said.

"A witness?"

"Yeah. She saw Wilder and someone we can only assume was Anatoly Popev interrogating Dunn in an alleyway. They killed him and spotted her; when she took off running, she ran into Mac and I. Wilder recognized us though," Jack admitted. There was another controlled sigh on the other end of the line, then Thornton replied.

"And you're sure she saw Dunn being killed?" she asked, though she knew there was a very small chance that it was someone else.

"Yes ma'am," Jack confirmed grimly. "We showed her a picture of both Wilder and Dunn, and she said Dunn was the one who got shot, and Wilder was there participating."

"And you have this witness? She's safe?" Thornton asked after a minute.

"Yes ma'am," Jack replied. Thornton thought for another few seconds, then said,

"Alright. Pull out. Get the witness out of there," she instructed.

"Patty," Jack tried arguing, but Thornton cut him off.

"You said Wilder recognized you. You two need to get back here and bring the witness with you. We'll send in another team to catch Wilder, but I need you two back here," she said, her tone leaving no room for arguing. "I assume you're somewhere safe? Inconspicuous?"

"Yes ma'am," Jack said, trying not to grumble.

"Sit tight until you hear from me," she said. "I'm arranging for the exfil team to turn around and go back to get back to you."

"Understood," Jack said. He couldn't help thinking that Mac was not going to be very happy about this, but he also knew that getting Anja to safety was key. Neither agent liked giving their missions to someone else, but Thornton was right. Wilder had recognized them, and he knew their motives, their way of thinking. That was why Jack had done everything basically the opposite of what Wilder was expecting while they were driving, trying to buy the three of them a little bit more time. With Jack and MacGyver leaving, Wilder wouldn't know who they'd be sending in, giving them the slight advantage of surprise, even though he would know for sure now that DXS was on his tail.

"I'll be in touch with coordinates soon," Thornton promised, pulling Jack from his thoughts and back to the conversation. "And Jack," she said before they hung up. "Stay alive-all of you. That's an order."

"Will do," Jack said, disconnecting the call. He slipped the sat phone back into his bag and pushed the door back open, walking into the room. Mac and Anja stopped talking and stared at the older man expectantly.

"So?" MacGyver asked when Jack didn't immediately say what the conversation with their boss had entailed.

"We're pulling out," Jack informed his young partner.

"What?" Mac asked in a surprised voice, standing up and walking over to Jack so they could speak more privately. "What do you mean we're pulling out?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Thornton said because Wilder recognized us she doesn't want us out here anymore; there's too much risk now that Wilder knows it's us. He knows us, knows how we think. She's sending in another team, and we're supposed to get Anja out of the country so that we can have her testify against Wilder and Anatoly," Jack explained quietly. "We've been ordered to sit tight until the exfil team gets here," he added. Mac didn't look happy, but one look at their exhausted-looking witness had him slowly nodding his head.

"Fine," he agreed. "Did Thornton say how long it would be till exfil got here?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, she just said she'd get back in touch with coordinates when she could."

"So what do we do now?" Mac asked, fully knowing the answer, but not hating it any less.

"We wait," Jack said. Mac let out a disgruntled sigh.

"I hate waiting," he grumped.

"I know," Jack said in a teasing consoling voice. "It'll be okay," he promised as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder. Mac snorted and pushed his friend's hand off, then turned and looked at Anja, who was staring at the both of them with wide eyes.

"It's gonna be okay," Mac assured her. "We're just waiting for some of our friends and then we're getting out of here."

"Out of...Russia?" Anja asked in confusion.

"Yeah," Jack responded. "We need to get you out of the country and make sure that you're kept safe."

"I can't leave!" Anja said, sounding like she was on the verge of hysteria. She stood up and began pacing, biting her nails as she looked back and forth between them. "I have life here," she reminded them, removing her fingers from her mouth so she could continue to speak. "I cannot simply ubegay!" she said, her eyes getting slightly glossy as they began filling with tears.

"Hey, hey," Mac said in a soothing voice, walking over to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry. It's not a permanent thing; only until we catch Wilder and Anatoly Popev," he assured her. "There's another team from our government coming in right now to catch them, so we shouldn't have to leave for more than a few days, if that," he promised. Anja sniffed and wiped her eyes on her long-sleeve blouse, making the cloth darker with water. "Anja," Mac said, causing her to look up at him. "I promise, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure you're safe, and make sure that you can get back to the life you knew," he said. Anja's fingers moved to her mouth again, and she began chewing on her fingernail, which Mac assumed was a nervous habit.

"Promise?" she finally asked, looking up at him. Her eyes were still red, and her face was still wet from the recent tears, but her expression was one of resilience.

"Promise," Mac repeated, giving her the best comforting smile he could. She sniffled again, but didn't say anything as she sat back down.

A few minutes later, their sat phone began ringing. "Patty," Jack greeted as he answered the call. Mac and Anja watched the older man as he sat on the phone with Thornton, occasionally responding to whatever she was saying with "Yes ma'am," or "Understood." Finally, he disconnected the call and looked at his two companions.

"Patty says exfil is on its way back, but it's gonna be a few hours," he said. "She's sending the coordinates right now and said to be there in four hours," Jack explained.

"So we wait?" Anja asked, looking at the two men. Jack nodded.

"We wait," he confirmed.

After thirty minutes, Mac was fidgety; he hated waiting. Jack saw his young friend getting more and more agitated, so he finally stood up. "Anyone hungry?" Jack asked, looking at his two younger companions. "I could go for some food right about now," he admitted. Anja's stomach growled before she could respond, making everyone in the room chuckle. "Okay," Jack said, clapping his hands together. "Who wants to be on food pick-up duty?" he asked.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, looking at the young man. He looked at her with an expectant look. "You stay?" she requested. MacGyver looked over at Jack, who shrugged his shoulders in an 'I honestly don't care' gesture.

"Sure," Mac agreed.

"Alright," Jack said, grabbing the many layers of winter clothes he had discarded when they first walked in, beginning to put them all back on. "I'll be back in a jiffy. I saw a small store just down the street; I'm gonna go see what they have there." He bundled himself up and then walked out the door, leaving Anja and MacGyver in the room.

Anja watched out the window as Jack disappeared around the corner outside, unconsciously chewing on her nails again.

"Anja," Mac said in a soft voice. The woman looked up, a slightly startled look in her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine," he said again. "We're going to get you out of this. I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe," he repeated. He knew he was beginning to sound like a broken record, but he also knew that Anja was terrified, and that continuity and repetition were sometimes needed and appreciated to keep someone calm.

Anja nodded. She believed the younger American, but it didn't completely erase her fears. She took a deep breath and looked out the window again, wondering why this had happened to her.

0-0-0

Albert, the young desk clerk at the motel, sat watching the TV whilst feeling rather bored with everything going on in his life at the moment. A movement outside the front door caught his attention, and he watched one of the men from earlier walk past the front of the building towards a car. Albert blinked slowly, extremely bored. Nothing exciting ever happened in his life, and all he really wanted was for something out of the ordinary to happen, just once. He let out a long, forlorn sigh and went back to watching the TV.

The current channel the TV was on was a movie, but he had seen it three times already, so he began switching through the channels. A lot of them were static, but he finally found a news station that had a good image. Currently, the reporter was talking about how a man had been found dead in an alley, and that there were several suspects wanted for questioning. As the story continued, three pictures showed up on the screen, and Albert did a double take as he recognized the faces. He looked out the window to where the man had disappeared, his heart pounding a little harder. He listened to the story with rapt attention, noticing the number on the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and listening to the implorings of the reporter to call that number with any news regarding the three people she was talking about.

Albert picked up the phone sitting next to him and quickly punched in the number. When the voice on the other end picked up, the front desk clerk began talking.

0-0-0

Mac moved the curtain to the side slightly, glancing out the window and wondering when on earth Jack was going to be back. The man had only been gone for a few minutes, but Mac had an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"MacGyver?" Anja said, standing up from the chair and walking over to stand next to the American who was helping her. "What is...wrong?" she asked, pausing on the last word to make sure she was saying the right thing.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Mac said with a reassuring smile.

"Nervous?" she asked. Mac let out a sigh and went to sit on the bed before answering.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a little nervous. But it's keeping you safe that I'm worried about," he explained.

"I trust you," she said, walking over and putting her hand on his shoulder. It was her turn to give him a reassuring smile.

"Thanks," Mac said.

"While we are waiting, do you mind?" Anja asked, gesturing at the small TV in the motel room.

"No, please," Mac said. He knew he wasn't going to understand enough of what was being said to really enjoy whatever she picked, but if it would keep her occupied, and keep his mind off the situation at hand he was all for it.

Anja picked up the remote and turned on the small screen. Mac leaned back on the bed as he watched the woman flip through the channels. Most of them were static, but there were a few clear channels. Anja chose the news and settled back in her chair to watch it. Mac stared at the screen, not really taking in what was actually going on in the news. At least, not until he heard Anja mutter something under her breath.

"What was that?" Mac asked, glancing over at her. She was staring with a confused look at the screen, so that was where MacGyver directed his eyes next. There on the screen was a grainy photo of him, Jack, and Anja, from what looked like a street camera. He couldn't read every word on the screen, but he caught a few words such as "dead," "police," and "information." He looked at Anja with a worried look. "What are they saying?" Mac asked, sitting up and staring at her intently.

"They say they are getting back to urgent story," Anja explained in a panicked voice. "They say you, Jack and me are...podozrevayemykh, um... suspect in your friend's killing," she explained. "They ask for any information if we are spotted."

"Wait, getting back?" Mac asked, his gut sinking again.

"Da," Anja confirmed, glancing at the screen to make sure that's what it said. Mac stood up.

"Anja, we gotta go now," he said, walking over and grabbing her by the hand. He had just pulled her to her feet when he heard shouting outside their room, and their door was kicked in. There were four men outside, and as soon as the door was on the ground, Mac saw one of the men toss something into the room. He recognized the object at the last instant, and he immediately pushed Anja down on the floor. "Close your eyes!" he yelled as he threw his hands over the woman's ears. There was a bright flash, accompanied with a loud BANG, and all of a sudden, MacGyver could barely see straight, and his hearing was fuzzy at best. He tried to get up, but his equilibrium had been thrown off by the flash-bang grenade.

He vaguely heard the men talking around him, and he heard Anja's scared pleading in Russian. His arms were grabbed and forced behind his back, and he felt a piece of rope being secured tightly around his wrists as he was hauled upright. He saw Anja being escorted out the door by one of the men, her arms bound behind her back as well, and he began struggling, trying to get to her to help her get away. To stop his struggles, one of the men holding him drove his fist into the kid's stomach, making him double over to try and catch his breath.

"Get them out of here, quickly," someone ordered. Mac's ears were still buzzing, but he would recognize that voice anywhere. Trying to blink the spots out of his eyes, Mac lifted his head to look in the smug face of Nicholas Wilder. "Hold it," Wilder said to the men holding Mac. He leaned down to the young blond. "Where's Dalton?" he asked. MacGyver shook his head, indicating that he was refusing to talk and tell where his partner was. Wilder scoffed, then rammed his fist into Mac's nose, causing blood to start pouring out.

While he was blinking through the pain and feeling secretly grateful for the support the men holding him were providing, Mac heard Anja yell in Russian at both Wilder and the men holding them. She was calling them names that Mac hadn't ever expected to hear come out of her mouth, and those were only the words he understood.

"Get them to the cars," Wilder spat, glaring at MacGyver. Mac was shuffled out of the room, struggling against the ropes as best he could. As he was marched out of the building, he saw different guests poking their heads out of their rooms, and he could only assume that they were all wondering what was going on. Mac's hearing was still fuzzy, but he heard Wilder telling the other guests that this was 'official police business' and asking them to go back to what they had been doing.

Wilder and his men had on their heavy winter gear, but Mac and Anja had taken most of their outside attire off; Mac simply had his light coat, while Anja had a jacket and her hat still. Those clothes provided hardly any protection against the bitter cold as they were led outside. As they passed the main office of the motel, Mac saw the desk clerk poking his head out of the door, a relieved look on his face. It didn't take Mac long to figure out how they had been found, or who had been the one to rat them out. Though he couldn't entirely blame the kid; the news did say that the three of them were suspects in the murder of Agent Dunn.

There were two vehicles waiting in the parking lot. One of them was a large black van, while the other was a sleek black sports car. The sliding door to the van was opened and MacGyver and Anja were pushed in. As they were shoved to the floor, Mac's ankles were grabbed and bound to match his hands; Anja received the same treatment. Wilder climbed in the back with them, looking at the three men who had accompanied him on his retrieval mission.

"You," he said, pointing to one of them. "Take the car. We'll follow you," he instructed. The man he indicated clambered out of the back and hurried to the car, while the last two men besides Wilder made awaited instructions. "Alex, you sit on the room. Make sure to get Dalton when he comes back," he ordered. Alex nodded and hopped out of the van, and the last man looked at Wilder as if he was waiting to hear what he was supposed to be doing. "You're driving the van, aren't you?" Wilder asked, gesturing impatiently towards the front of the vehicle. The man nodded, as if he was just understanding what his role was, and he made his way to the front of the van.

Wilder reached up into the passenger seat and grabbed several black strips of cloth. He knelt down in front of Anja, reaching behind her head to wrap one of the cloths around her eyes. He then wrapped another one around her head and mouth and tied it behind her head, preventing her from making legible sounds. He stood up and moved over to kneel in front of MacGyver.

"Wilder, don' do dis," Mac said through his bloody nose, knowing it was useless to try and reason with the traitor, but figuring it was worth a shot anyway.

"Shut up," Wilder snapped, gagging Mac before blindfolding him so that the blond couldn't talk anymore. MacGyver tried leaning away from Wilder to avoid the blindfold, but the traitor simply glared at the kid and grabbed him by the hair, hitting the young man's head against the side of the van hard enough to stun him so that he couldn't struggle anymore. Once the blindfold was in place, Mac shook his head, trying to dislodge it any amount that he could, but it didn't work. All he succeeded in doing was making his head hurt more. Mac heard Wilder hit something that sounded like the back of a leather chair, then say, "Let's get outta here."

The van started and moved forward, tipping the two prisoners slightly. Mac tried wriggling his hands, but the ropes were tied tightly, and he knew that there was no way he was getting out of them without help, whether it be a person or something else he might find along the way.

 _The only thing I can really hope for is the opportunity to present itself to me to get these ropes off my wrists. I have no idea how long it's going to take Jack before he gets back and finds that we're gone; by then it's possible that it could be too late if I don't do something to get us out of this situation._

 _ **Translations:**_

 _ **Odna komnata pozhaluysta=one room please**_

 _ **Spasibo=thank you**_

 _ **Ubegay=run away**_

 _ **pozhaluysta=You're welcome**_

 _ **So if you guys were wondering, I was trying to say that some time had passed from the time that Albert called the "police" to the time that Mac and Anja saw the story by having Anja say they were "getting back to" the story, indicating a commercial break or something.**_

 ** _So thoughts? I wasn't sure if the last few paragraphs especially made sense?_**

 ** _PS, you can thank helloyesimhere, she convinced me (meaning confirmed my own feelings) to leave off on this cliffie XD I was originally going to leave it off with Albert making the call, but decided to go just a little further ;)_**

 ** _Let me know what you think!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hey hey hey! Chapter four is here! It's a little shorter than the last two have been, but we get both Mac and Jack in this one! :D**_

 _ **AlSo caN We TAlK abOUt How WE wON anD GoT a SeCOnD SEaSon?! I was flipping out so much, mostly internally, but I definitely was geeking out enough in class that I was getting weird looks ;) Don't care though, because we did it, guys!**_

 _ **Anyway, small freakout over, onto Chapter 4!**_

 _ **I don't own anything about this amazing show, but the OC's are mine :)**_

Jack wandered up and down the aisles of the store, grabbing just the bare minimum he felt like they needed. He picked up a few sandwiches, some Russian soda, as well as some bottled water. He wasn't offended at all that Anja had wanted Mac to stay behind with her; after all, Jack had been the one to freak her out by trying to push her into their car. Looking back on it now, he realized that wasn't the smartest idea, but at least they had been able to get over it. And truth be told, if he were as shaken as Anja was, he'd want Mac to stay with him too. The kid just had a more calming personality.

As Jack put the last item in his basket, he happened to glance up at the TVs that were hanging from the ceiling. The majority of them were security feeds, but one of them was the news channel. His eyes widened as he saw a video of him, Mac, and Anja running away from the alley. He couldn't read the subtitles they had on, but when Agent Dunn's photo showed up on the screen, Jack figured the story was anything but true.

He set his basket down in the middle of the aisle, ignoring the angry mutterings of the other shoppers around him. The older American headed for the doors of the shop, pulling out his sat phone to try and get ahold of Mac before realizing he had the only sat phone. He cursed and ran over to his car, pressing the fob to unlock the doors. He turned the key in the ignition while simultaneously putting on his seatbelt. Once both of those tasks were done and the car's engine was purring, Jack shoved the car into drive and peeled out of the parking lot, speeding towards the motel.

By the time Jack pulled into the motel's parking lot, he doubted even the most proficient boy scout would be able to beat the number of knots that were twisted in Jack's stomach. He threw the car into park and yanked the key out of the ignition, springing from the driver's seat as if he had received an electrical shock. He shut the door and began jogging towards their building, cursing the fact that the building was the last one in the lot, and his parking spot happened to be one of the furthest from the building.

As the building finally came into sight, Jack noticed an eerie stillness surrounding the place, and he hoped and prayed that something, anything would make a sound, something to let him know that his partner and Anja were still in the room. He didn't slow down as he neared the door, but before he could open it, it was flung open and someone came out. The man who had just exited the building began running at Jack, raising his gun and aiming it at him.

Jack's eyes widened and he ducked out of the way of the weapon, smacking the other man's arm up and away as they got within hitting distance of each other. He hit the man's arm with enough force that it knocked the gun out of his hand, and it clattered to the ground. There was a moment when both men stared at it, then the man who was attacking Jack lunged for the gun, while Jack sprang for his attacker, intent on not letting him get the gun back in his hands.

Jack tackled the man to the ground; his attacker wasn't any bigger than he was, and Jack had taken down plenty of men much bigger than him. He needed to find out where Mac and Anja were, giving him a righteous cause to fight for, which made his fighting all the more powerful.

They both got up and squared off, each waiting for the other to make a move. Jack's hand was itching to grab his gun from its holster, but he resisted; he wanted to avoid a gun going off at all costs to bypass any scenes they may cause if they were caught with guns. He saw his attacker move suddenly, and Jack realized he was grabbing a backup gun. That made up Jack's mind; he immediately gripped his own gun and pulled it out, firing a quick shot before the man could fire his own weapon.

Jack's aim was true; his shot hit the man on the hand, causing him to yell in pain and drop his backup weapon. He clutched at his bleeding hand, groaning in pain and glaring at Jack as if there were a way he could kill him with his gaze.

"Sorry," Jack said very unapologetically. He walked over and punched the man in the face, hard enough to knock him unconscious with the one blow. He quickly patted the man down, removing another small gun, as well as a few knives from off his captive. Jack then took off the Russian's belt, wrapping it around his wrists a few times to make a DIY restraint. " _Mac would be proud of that,"_ Jack thought to himself.

Jack saw people begin to poke their heads out of their windows, and he knew he had precious little time before more and more people showed up. He sprinted for the door to the building and yanked it open, bolting down the hallway to their room. His stomach sank when he saw that it was open, and he had to stop himself from punching a hole in the wall when he saw their room. It was obvious there had been a struggle, and as Jack was looking around at the havoc, he noticed something on the floor. He quickly bent down and picked it up, cursing when he recognized the flash-bang grenade. He knew Mac and Anja weren't here anymore, so he ran back outside to the unconscious man on the ground.

Just as Jack had feared, more and more people began appearing, trying to see what the gunshot had been about, and they all began muttering and pointing at Jack. He knew that if they had been watching the news, they probably recognized him; sometimes he wished that when people recognized him it was because of something good he'd done.

He bent down and picked up the unconscious man, carrying him fireman style towards his car, once again pulling out the keys and unlocking the doors; he then gently lowered his prisoner into the backseat and shut the door. Once that was done, he hurried around to the driver's seat, turned the car on, and drove out of the parking lot as fast as he could.

As he was driving away, Jack glanced at the unconscious man with the bloody hand in his backseat. He figured he should probably bandage the man's hand, but he would worry about that when they stopped. For now, he was mainly focused on getting the two of them far enough away from everything so that they could talk in peace. "Okay bub," he muttered darkly. "Let's hear what you've got to say."

 _0-0-0_

The van came to a halt rather suddenly, and MacGyver and Anja were tossed forward once again, unable to keep their balance due to not having the use of their arms or legs. Mac grunted as the side of his head hit something hard, but thanks to the blindfold, he couldn't see what it was. His nose was still throbbing, but from what he could tell, it had stopped bleeding, thankfully. The van's engine was turned off, and Mac heard the stomping of heavy boots coming towards them. After a moment, he heard the side doors of the van being opened, and the wind rushed in to greet them, causing him to shiver slightly.

"Get them up," he heard Wilder say. Mac's ankles were grabbed and he felt the ropes being cut off. He was then grabbed by the front of his coat and hauled upright. Mac turned his head, trying to listen for any sign of where they could be. The only thing he heard was the rushing wind, and Anja's grunting as she struggled with the men untying her. Mac was shoved from behind, sending him tumbling out of the van. He landed on the ground, grunting as his chin scraped the asphalt. Mac's nose began pulsating wildly, sending signals to Mac's brain and letting it know that being thrown on their face was not good for the safety of their already-hurt-nose.

Wilder growled an order in Russian and MacGyver was once more pulled to his feet. He was pushed forward, and he took a few halting steps, not sure of where to put his foot.

The wind was howling around him, and his shivering began to get worse, his body desperately trying to keep itself warm in the harsh weather. He heard a door open, it's hinges creaking and squawking loudly in protest, as if the building was trying to keep the cold out as well. MacGyver was pushed through the door, and he heard Anja behind him; from what he could hear, it sounded like she tripped while coming through the door. He turned around instinctively to try and help her, but as soon as he made the move to turn around, someone's fist connected with his cheekbone, forcing him to turn back around. " _So much for my nose having stopped bleeding,"_ Mac groaned inwardly as he felt something warm once more begin to come out of his nose as a result of the punch.

The two prisoners were forced down a hallway, and MacGyver couldn't help but notice that even though they were inside, it didn't seem to be getting much warmer. His single coat wasn't doing much to ward off the chills, and Mac's shivers didn't lessen at all; if anything, they almost seemed to be getting worse.

Off to his right, Mac heard another door squeaking open. He was pulled to a stop and turned to the right, then shoved forward, towards what he could only assume was the newly opened room. He was once again shoved forward, losing his balance a bit and stumbling into the wall.

"Sit down," Mac heard Wilder growl before he felt a heavy pressure on his shoulders, forcing him to the ground. His feet and knees were tied together again, and the blindfold and gag were not removed. Mac felt someone going through his pockets, extracting his Swiss Army knife and his lock-picking kit. He heard Wilder scoff slightly, and mutter something about "predictability."

MacGyver strained his ears, listening for any indication Anja was in the same room as him, but he didn't hear anything. The only thing he heard were heavy footsteps, then the door squawked again, indicating it was being closed.

The door was shut, but MacGyver was still able to hear basically everything going on outside his room. He heard Wilder begin speaking with someone, but when he didn't hear anyone else besides Wilder, he assumed the man was on the phone.

"Anatoly, I've got them." There was a pause, then the American continued. "Well, no. Not all of them. Dalton wasn't with them when we got there, but we got MacGyver and the girl." Another pause, then, "No sir. Yes, we're waiting for you here. Yessir, I left Alex at the motel for when Dalton gets back. They'll all be here when you get here."

With that, the conversation stopped, and Mac could only assume that either the phone call had been ended, or Wilder had moved out of his hearing range. He listened for a minute, and when he didn't hear anything outside, he immediately began wiggling around, trying to loosen the ropes around his wrists at all. They were tied too tight though, and he could tell that all he was doing was digging the ropes deeper and deeper into his wrists. He finally stopped and just sat there, listening.

 _They say when one of your senses goes, the others are heightened. I couldn't see what was around me, but I could smell, hear, and feel things just fine._

The air smelled dank, and the walls were cold and slightly wet. He also smelled what he thought smelled like wet hay, but he pushed that aside for the time being. Mac strained his ears again, and he heard something that made him smile through his gag. There was a _drip drip drip_ of a leaky pipe or something somewhere close by, and Mac began scooting around as best as he could towards the noise, until he finally felt the cold water touch his arms. He wriggled around and then sat against the wall, letting the water drip onto the ropes and his arms. He wiggled his wrists a little, and while he figured his idea would probably work, he knew he was going to have to wait longer than just fifteen seconds, especially since his wrists were doubly swollen thanks to the tightness of the ropes around his wrists.

 _I would say time to get comfortable to wait this out, but knowing how cold I was about to get, and seeing as how there really is no comfortable way to sit on this cement floor, all I can say is "time to wait."_

 ** _Thoughts?_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hey guys! Here is chapter five :)**_

 _ **Usual disclaimers apply**_

Jack pulled the car to a stop several miles away from the motel and climbed out. He knew someone had probably seen the car he had driven off in and informed local police, seeing as how he had technically just kidnapped a man, and whatever was on the news seemed to be bad, so he knew he needed a different ride.

Jack hurried over to an old clunker of a car; it was inconspicuous, and would get him far enough away that he would be able to talk with his captive without much fear is disruption. He examined the car and was grateful to see that it was already unlocked. He hurried back to his own car and pulled his attacker out, shoving him over to their new ride. When the man had woken up, he had immediately started complaining about his hand and how much it hurt, which was driving Jack crazy. That was why, before he deposited his attacker in the new car, he ripped a bit of the man's shirt and wrapped it around the wounded hand.

"There ya go," Jack said with a tone of voice that clearly indicated he didn't really care about the well-being of the man's hand, he just wanted him to shut up. Once that was done, Jack opened the driver's door and popped the trunk, then guided the man towards the back of the car. "In you go," Jack said, 'helping' the man get into the trunk. His prisoner opened his mouth to begin yelling, but before he had gotten two words out, Jack slammed the trunk shut, muffling the shouts of the Russian mobster. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jack muttered as he walked back to the front of the car.

He sat down in the driver's seat and fiddled with the panel underneath the steering wheel. He ducked his head underneath so he could see the wires better, and he soon grabbed the right wires and had the car sputtering to life. He put the car into drive and drove away, leaving their rental car in the lot behind them. "Patty's gonna be so ticked," Jack thought to himself as he thought about explaining to his boss why he was on the run for kidnapping, and why he had just stolen a car, as well as explaining about whatever was going on in the news. He was not looking forward to that conversation, and it didn't help that the car's heater was on the fritz, so it was taking forever to warm up. "This day is going just great," he muttered to himself.

0-0-0

Jack pulled the car into the parking lot of an older-looking building; there were no cars in the parking lot, so the American was hoping the building was empty. He turned the car off and got out of the driver's seat, popping the trunk before walking back.

"Ok, dude," he said, grabbing his captive by the front of his coat and hauling him out of the trunk. "Let's get inside."

The man struggled, stomping his foot down on Jack's foot, then trying to make a break for it when Jack grunted in pain and hopped on one foot for a minute. The prisoner didn't get very far though before Jack caught back up with him and stopped him from running away.

"Really?" Jack asked exasperatedly. "You thought stomping on my foot was going to give you enough of a chance to get away? Dude, you gotta work on your escaping skills," Jack said, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"You American pigs think you're so smart," the Russian sneered.

"I never claimed to be smart," Jack quipped. "I just think it was dumb for you to try and get away with such a poor plan; that's all I'm saying."

Jack pushed the door to the old building open and shoved his captive through. The building was an old warehouse from the looks of it, and Jack saw a chair sitting to the side of the room. He marched the man over and sat him down, then stood in front of him.

"Alright," Jack said, fixing his prisoner with his best 'Thornton-impersonation' stare. "You're going to answer any questions I have, got it?"

The Russian mob member spat at Jack's feet, and the older American rolled his eyes. "That's not a good answer," he informed the man. "First question: Where did your buddies take my partner and the woman?"

Jack's captive began spewing out Russian words that Jack was sure if he could understand Russian, would not be fit for polite conversation.

"Now, that's no way to treat your host," Jack said, wiping a bit of spittle off his face that had flown out of the man's mouth. He would have continued the conversation, but his sat phone began buzzing. "'Scuze me," he said to his companion, walking a short distance away to take the call, but keeping an eye on his prisoner so that he didn't try to escape again.

"Heeeey Patty," he said, trying to sound as casual as he could.

"Jack," she greeted, her tone indicating that she was immediately suspicious of her agent. "What's going on?"

"Whaddya mean, 'what's going on?'?" he asked, not sure how to break it to her that Mac and their witness had both been grabbed.

"Jack," she said, her voice letting Jack know that now was not the time to be withholding information. "What happened? What aren't you telling me?"

Jack squeezed his eyes shut before finally blurting out, "Mac and Anja were captured while I was out getting food."

There was a minute of silence before his boss replied. "And when were you planning on telling me?" Thornton asked.

"When I got them back," Jack admitted, somewhat sullenly.

"Alright, as soon as you get back to the States, we're going to have an exercise in honesty and reporting incidents, but for now, just tell me what you know."

Jack explained how they had waited for a little bit in the motel room, but that everyone had become slightly twitchy and hungry, so they decided they needed food.

"Anja seemed to be more comfortable with Mac, so she asked him to stay with her, which left me to go get us food," Jack explained. "While I was at the store, I saw the news, which had our three faces plastered to the screen. I figured that wasn't good, so I hightailed it back to the room, but when I got there, Mac and Anja were gone. I did manage to get a member of the mafia though, I think," he added. "He stayed behind and tried to jump me when I got back."

"And do you have him with you?" Thornton asked, keeping her tone even.

"I do," Jack confirmed. "I, um, had to get outta there quick though," he admitted. "There were a lot of people staring, and I'm pretty sure what I did would be considered kidnapping," he informed his boss with an apologetic tone. There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone, then Thornton came back on.

"Anything else I should know?" she asked, meaning it sarcastically.

"Well, I should probably tell you that I might have had to switch cars just in case someone got the plates to the rental," he said. "And I'm not sure what the news was saying about the three of us, but whatever it is, I'm sure it wasn't true," Jack added.

"You stole a...nevermind," Thornton said, deciding not to even try and figure out where the day had turned to crap. "I'll talk to some of our contacts in the police department over there and get things figured out," she promised. "You just lay low; send me a picture of the man you have, and I'll get an ID on him."

"Yes ma'am," Jack agreed. He took a picture of the man and got back on the phone with Thornton. "I'm emailing you a picture of him. Let me know as soon as you know anything," he implored.

"I'll let you know what I find," the director promised.

"Patty," Jack said before they hung up. "I'm sorry. I don't know how we were found; I made sure to check that we weren't followed before I found the motel, and we paid with cash. I don't know what happened," he admitted, sounding slightly broken.

"We'll figure this out, Jack," Thornton said, her voice not as hard as it had been the entire conversation. She could tell Jack was beating himself up, and she knew that if agents weren't at their top performing levels, people had more of a chance of dying. "I'll get back to you about the photo as soon as I know anything. Keep the sat phone close by," she advised. The call was ended, and Jack rubbed his forehead again.

"This is not how this day was supposed to go," he said to the man sitting in the chair a few feet away from him. "Not at all," he muttered more to himself as he stared at the phone, as if willing Thornton to call him back immediately.

 _ **Sorry, this was kind of more of a filler chapter. It was kind of a rough weekend for me, and the rest of the chapter that was supposed to follow with this was giving me a lot of trouble while editing. Again, so sorry for the short, filler chapter, but rest assured that the next update will be long, and Mac-centered.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Can I just say that I am so lucky to have all of you guys here to support me? You guys are all seriously the best. I'm feeling much better, and the support you guys show me has a huge part to play in that, so thank you!**_

 _ **Also, I'm the worst at replying to comments this story, I'll try to do better! XD**_

 _ **As promised, a longer chapter, completely Mac-centric :)**_

Mac had been sitting on the floor for what felt like hours, and he couldn't feel his wrists anymore, due to the combination of both the ice cold water, along with just how frigid the room itself was. He shivered again, and he figured he had waited long enough. He scooted away from the dripping water and began wiggling his wrists.

After several minutes of twisting and turning in an extremely uncomfortable position, Mac finally felt one of his wrists slip through the ropes a little. He wriggled and squirmed even more, and after several more minutes of fighting with the ropes, his hands were free.

The first action he took was to yank the blindfold away from his eyes, and then to remove the cloth from his mouth. He had to work his tongue around for a minute to get the nasty taste of the gag as well as to get the dryness out of his mouth. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the lighting around him; underneath the blindfold there had been no light whatsoever that got through, so even the dim light that was in the room was a little bright for the blond for a moment. He blinked several times, finally adjusting his eyes to the light in the room, and he began untying the ropes around his ankles and knees. His fingers, wrists, and hands had gone numb a while ago, so when he looked at his now-free wrists, he was slightly shocked to see how red and raw his wrists looked.

 _I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, I did just sit with ice-cold water dripping onto my wrists for who knows how long, and combine that with the general temperature in here and the fact that I was tied up, I should have expected something similar to this._

Once he was completely untied, he glanced around his prison space. He was in a room surrounded by wooden walls, with a small, square foot window about two and a half feet above his head. From what he could see, the sun was setting outside. He and Jack had gotten to Russia at about ten that morning, and they had run into Anja at about one. From what he remembered, the three of them had gotten to the motel about an hour later, and had been told by Thornton to wait four hours for exfil. They had only made it another half-hour before before Jack had gone out to get food, and it had been about fifteen minutes later that Wilder had ambushed he and Anja in their room.

Mac hadn't realized how long he and Anja had been gone; it had to have been three or four hours at least, meaning they had missed exfil, and Thornton had to know something was going on.

Can't wait for Thornton though. Can't wait for anyone. If we're going to get out of here, it's gotta be up to us.

Mac slipped his hand into his pocket, grabbing the couple of single lock picks he had stuck in his pocket after breaking into Wilder's apartment.

 _If Wilder thought he knew me, he should have known to search all my pockets. For some reason, people usually stop searching after they find what they expect to find. Okay, to be fair, that is normally my pocket knife and lock-picking kit. I usually don't have stray lock picks in my pocket, but I'm glad I did today._

MacGyver hurried over to the door, gently testing the handle. As he suspected, it was locked from the outside. He crouched down, similar to his position outside Wilder's apartment, and stuck the picks into the lock. A few turns later, he heard the soft snick as the doorknob clicked open. He gently opened the door, only to immediately freeze and wince as it squeaked.

He heard someone outside the door make a startled noise, and he knew he had been discovered. He jumped out of the room, slamming the door open as hard and as fast as he could. He heard a grunt and a thud, and when he looked around, he saw the guard stationed outside his room on the ground. He was clutching at his forehead, but when he saw Mac peek his head out the door, he growled and launched himself to his feet, lumbering towards the blond.

Mac's eyes widened and he ducked the swinging fists, trying to avoid having his nose punched again. As he straightened back up, he jabbed the man in the throat. As the guard gasped and clutched at his larynx, Mac gave him a solid right hook across the cheek, knocking his attacker to the ground. Mac held his fists up, prepared to fight more if need be, but the guard didn't move. After another few seconds of waiting, Mac cautiously stepped over the unconscious guard's body and quickly picked the lock to the door he was sure Anja was behind. As the door swung open, he indeed saw the Russian woman sitting on the floor, still blindfolded and gagged, just like he had been left. He walked towards her quickly but quietly, calling out to her softly as he got closer.

"Anja, it's Mac," he assured her as he got within reaching distance. He slowly put his hands behind her head, continuing to let her know it was him, though that didn't stop her from shying away from his hands as he untied the blindfold. As the cloth fell away from her eyes and she realized it really was Mac, her eyes glistened with tears. Mac took the gag out of her mouth next, then moved on to her hands as she began to talk.

"I was worried they kill you," she admitted. "I am sorry; you should not have been involved," she apologized, bowing her head in shame. Mac looked at her as he untied the knots on her wrists.

"Anja, I'm gonna get you out of here," he promised. "None of this is your fault, and while I don't enjoy being captured by a rogue agent, it's definitely not the worst thing that could have happened to me today," he said in a joking tone with a quick wink.

Anja was about to reply, but what she saw behind the American made her eyes go wide. Mac knew that look all too well and immediately turned, trying to fight whoever was behind him, but he was a split second too slow. He saw his attacker was the guard he thought he had left unconscious on the floor, but that was all he was really able to gather before his neck was in a tight grip, and he was focusing all of his attention on getting out of the chokehold.

The man spun around, making Mac's body flail slightly as they faced the door. The guard marched Mac towards the door, intending to shut it so he could restrain the prisoners once more. MacGyver tried hitting his captor's elbows and arms, trying to loosen the grip at all. When that didn't work, the young American tried ramming his fist into the man's ribcage. It slowed the man down a tiny bit, but he didn't loosen his grip at all, and Mac began to see stars dance in front of his vision.

Mac let out a choking noise as he continued to try and pry at his captors fingers, but it wasn't having any effect. He began to go slack in the man's hands, but all of a sudden the guard let out a grunt and released Mac, falling to his knees. Mac gasped in a deep breath and rubbed his neck while he looked behind the man. He saw Anja standing there, and he realized she must have kicked the back of the man's knees, causing the large guard to fall.

The guard jumped to his feet to attack Anja, and Mac moved to intervene, but the Russian woman was a step ahead of the American agent. She raked her fingernails across the man's face, leaving long red streaks above his eyebrows and down his cheeks. He yelled in pain and clutched at his face, leaving his back vulnerable to Mac once more

MacGyver took the guard's distraction and hit the man in the back of the head, knocking him to the floor again, similar to how Mac had left him outside just a few minutes ago. After the guard collapsed, MacGyver checked to make sure he was unconscious, then grabbed the pieces of cloth that had been their blindfolds and gags. Mac wrapped them around the man's wrists and mouth so that when he woke up he wouldn't be able to raise the alarm for a few minutes at least.

"Thanks," Mac said as he held out his hand for Anja. She nodded in acknowledgement of his gratitude and accepted the offered hand, then the two of them crept out the door and into the hallway, looking both ways before turning left.

Mac had been paying attention when they were brought into the building, and he knew exactly which way to go to get back to the door they had been brought through. They snuck through the hallway, and finally Mac saw the door that would lead to their freedom. He looked up and down the hallway once more, making sure they were alone, and as soon as he saw that there was no one around, he and Anja moved towards the door.

To no one's surprise, it was locked, but Mac simply pulled out his lock picks once more. Anja stood by him, continuing to check the hallway to make sure no one was coming. The locks weren't very high-tech, and he had the door open in under a minute. Once the door swung open, the two of them hurried outside; they were both shivering in the cold Russian air, but both were happy to be out of that building.

As MacGyver ran, he observed their surroundings. He noticed that they had been held in what looked like a barn, and he saw a farmhouse about a hundred yards away, where he assumed Wilder and the rest of his crew were gathered. The ground was covered in hard dirt and rocks, and in the distance, Mac could see a gate. He pointed it out to Anja and she nodded. They both began running faster, and as Mac looked past the gate, he could see a small building in the distance, no more than a mile away. He hoped and prayed that it would be someone that could help them.

They were almost to the gate when Mac felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He glanced behind them and his eyes widened as he saw a man coming out of the door he and Anja had just exited. The man had his gun drawn, a silencer screwed to the tip. Almost in slow motion, MacGyver saw the man level his gun at Anja, and the American leapt into action. Literally. The young agent immediately changed his course, and instead of running towards the gate, Mac flung himself towards the young woman escaping with him just as the shot was fired.

Several things happened at once. A searing pain ripped through Mac's right shoulder at the same time that Anja screamed. For a minute, Mac worried that he hadn't been fast enough, that the bullet had hit Anja as well, but when he opened his eyes (when had he closed them?), he saw her standing above him with an look of worry, not pain in her eyes.

He quickly glanced over her, trying to see if she was wounded, but to his relief he didn't see anything. Suddenly the pain from his shoulder hit him full-force and he squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth, trying to block out the pain. In his hazy thoughts, he couldn't help but think how grateful he was that the man had a silencer on his gun, otherwise Mac was sure that they'd be in a lot more trouble a lot faster.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, the panic building in her voice. Mac forced his eyes open and he looked behind them, seeing that the man who had shot him was sprinting towards them, quickly closing the distance. The American struggled to his feet, wincing as his shoulder was jostled. He kept his injured arm close to his side, while he readied himself to fight with his uninjured arm.

"Anja, stay behind me," he said, right before giving a small gasp of pain as his shoulder informed him that fighting wouldn't be the best idea. Anja looked scared, but she knew that Mac couldn't fight the man alone, so she took her own stance and prepared to fight. "Anja," Mac growled, not wanting her to get hurt.

"No time to argue," she insisted. Mac looked up and realized she was right; the man was practically right on top of them. He looked down at their feet and spotted a large rock; without wasting any time, he bent down and picked it up. It was his right side that had been injured, meaning he couldn't use that arm to throw, but he knew that their freedom depended on his aim, so he took a deep breath, concentrated, and then lobbed the rock with his left hand. The rock sailed through the air, arcing slightly before coming down and smacking their pursuer on his shoulder.

The man let out a short shout of pain, pausing briefly as he gripped at his shoulder. His pause gave Mac enough time to brace himself a little more before the mobster reached them. The man was upon them within a matter of seconds, and as soon as he could, he took a swing at the blond, who ducked. Mac had to hold back a grunt of pain as his shoulder was moved again, but holding in the grunt didn't stop the stars from appearing in his vision. He swayed on his feet, unable to avoid the punch he knew was inevitably coming.

It never came though. There was a shriek, a grunt, and a thud, and when Mac's vision cleared, he saw Anja standing there with a rock in her hand, the man on the ground. Her eyes were wide, and when she saw the man on the ground, she realized what she had done. She let out a little squeak and dropped the rock, staring at the man on the ground. MacGyver slowly straightened up, trying to avoid another dizzy spell as he walked over to the Russian woman. He gently took her hand, causing her to look at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Her eyes were still wide, but she nodded. Mac knew the adrenaline was numbing the pain in his shoulder slightly, so he hurried to restrain the unconscious Russian on the ground. The American knelt down and took the Russian's shoelaces off.

"Could you help me with this?" he asked Anja, knowing he wouldn't be able to tie the shoelaces around the man's wrists with only one hand. Anja nodded and knelt down, restraining the man with the shoelaces. Once that was done, Mac made sure one last time that his shooter was unconscious, then he stood back up and motioned for Anja to follow him.

He figured that the rest of the men were in the farmhouse, and thankfully the gate was out of sight of the window, so he knew that as long as he and Anja were able to get off of the property before either of the men they had knocked unconscious woke up, they had a good chance to get away and find help.

Mac could feel his adrenaline wearing off, and he began slowing down once they got out of the gate. Anja gave him a worried look, but he brushed it off and continued walking briskly towards the building he had seen earlier.

A few minutes later, they finally reached the building, and Mac had been right; it was another farmhouse. He was wary, not sure who was living there, but he knew they needed help, so he pushed aside his fear and walked up the porch and knocked on the front door. He braced himself against the porch as they waited for someone to answer. After almost a minute of no one coming to the door, Mac rang the doorbell again, but knew, even as he pushed the button, that no one was coming. He looked around, noticing a garage with a door that was halfway open. He motioned at Anja, and the two of them made their way over to the secondary structure. Anja raised the door the rest of the way, and to both of their reliefs, there was a car sitting in the garage space.

MacGyver walked into the space, examining the car. It wasn't new, but it wasn't an old clunker, for which he was grateful. Not that he would have turned his nose up at a clunker, but a lot of times those cars had difficulty getting the heating working, and heat was something both he and Anja desperately needed at the moment. Mac approached the driver's door while Anja wandered around a little bit.

"MacGyver!" she said excitedly. The American looked over at her, noticing that she was dangling keys that had been on the workbench. He grinned, glad to see that things were beginning to look up. As he stood there though, he got dizzy and had to brace himself against the car. He took in a deep breath, but that didn't help chase the dizziness away; he turned and placed his back against the car, closing his eyes while taking in deep breaths.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, worry replacing the excitement in her voice as she saw the young man slump against the side of the car. Mac began fumbling around for the door handle. "What are you doing?" she asked as she came around to him, slapping his hand lightly.

"We gotta get outta here," Mac said, his words beginning to slur slightly.

"We need to get you help," Anja muttered to herself, her eyes clouding over with concern. She looked at his wounded shoulder, seeing the blood leaking from the wound. There was no exit wound though, and Anja knew that a bullet inside could do just as much damage as the initial wound.

"'M fine," Mac insisted, trying again to reach for the door handle. Anja stopped him without much difficulty, shaking her head.

"No, I will drive," she stated emphatically, leaving no room for argument. She helped Mac over to the passenger side of the car, gently easing him onto the seat. Mac's eyes began to close, freaking Anja out slightly. "MacGyver!" she said, slapping him on the cheek lightly to wake him up. Mac's eyes opened back up and he looked at the woman. "You need to stay awake," she reminded him apologetically. MacGyver nodded once, showing he understood. Satisfied, Anja shut the door and hurried over to the driver's side.

She slid into the seat and inserted the key into the ignition. As she turned they key, the car's engine came to life, and she looked over at her companion with a grin on her face, only to find the young man beginning to doze again. "MacGyver!" Anja said loudly, jolting the young man out of his sleep again. "Stay awake," she pleaded.

"I'm sorry," he said, hearing the panic being just barely contained in her voice. He knew he needed to stay awake, but he also wondered if Anja was keeping him awake partially because she didn't want to be alone. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he forced himself to sit up straighter and he made a renewed effort to keep his eyes open.

Anja put the car into drive, and they pulled out of the garage. The woman looked around them carefully before pulling out onto the street, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

"Where are you going?" Mac asked, watching the scenery pass by.

"Hospital," Anja replied, making it sound like it was the easiest answer in the world.

"No," Mac said, shaking his head.

"No?" Anja repeated incredulously. "Why no?"

"We don't know if they still think we killed Dunn," Mac replied. "If we show up and someone recognizes us, they'll call the cops, many of which I would assume are in Anatoly's pocket," he explained, squeezing his eyes tight and his face draining of color as they hit a bump and jostled his shoulder.

"But your arm," Anja began, looking over at him for a minute. "Bullet is still inside," she reminded him.

"Yeah, that may be a bit of a problem," he admitted. "If we can get ahold of Jack, he can help," Mac assured the woman. "We just need somewhere with a phone, where people won't recognize us. Know anywhere like that?"

Anja thought for a moment. "Maybe. You sure you want to risk this?" she asked.

"It's the best thing we can do right now," Mac replied, beginning to shiver. He was glad to see his body beginning to fight back against the cold again, even if his wrists were still throbbing and slightly numb. He didn't want to look at them, knowing that he was only going to be seeing the first symptoms of frostbite.

Anja looked over at the American. She felt terrible that he had taken a bullet for her, and she wanted to do everything in her power to help him. He had risked everything for her, and the least she could do was try and get him the help that he needed. If that help came in the form of his older partner, Anja wasn't going to deny Mac that care. She stared ahead of her in grim determination, gripping the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles were almost whiter than MacGyver's face.

She saw the young man begin to shiver, and she realized that she was also shivering, so she reached over and turned the heat on full blast. A few minutes after the warm air began flowing through the vents, Anja relaxed slightly, relishing the warm feeling now spreading through her body. She kept glancing over at the young man in the seat next to her, making sure he was staying awake. She drove as fast as she could without drawing attention to themselves, trying to get somewhere they could phone for help.

 _ **So? Thoughts? Are they really out of the woods?**_

 _ **Also! New episode on Friday! Eeep!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Woohoo, chapter 7! This story is turning out to be my longest one yet, and if I'm being honest, it kinda scares me 0.0**_

 _ **Longer AN at the bottom, usual disclaimers apply :)**_

"You let a woman and an injured _boy_ get the better of you?" Wilder raged, striking the man hard across the face, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"It's not them I blame," a cold voice came from behind. Everyone turned to see Anatoly staring at the American, and they all took a few steps back, not wanting to be anywhere the mob boss while he was in his quiet rage like this.

"It's not my fault," Wilder said evenly, staring Anatoly down, not willing to be intimidated by the man.

"It was _you_ I left in charge," Popev reminded Wilder. "As far as I am concerned, anything that goes wrong with this is on you."

Wilder opened his mouth to respond, but Anatoly cut him off with a single stare. "You hear from Alex?" the mob boss asked after a minute. Wilder's gaze became more sullen, and he looked similar to a pouting child who had been caught doing something wrong.

"No," he admitted.

"Have you tried calling him?"

"Yes," Wilder muttered. "He's not answering."

"How long has this been going on?"

"A little over an hour," Wilder admitted. Anatoly's eyes flamed with rage and suddenly, Wilder found himself on the floor, wiping blood off his lip.

"Idiot," Anatoly seethed. "You let the situation go on for this long without telling me?"

"I thought we could-"

"That was your problem," Anatoly interrupted. "You thought. I do not pay you to think. I pay you to give me your country's secrets. I do not think you understand how easy it would be to replace you," he added, the threat coming across loud and clear. Wilder didn't look happy about it, but he nodded his head.

"Find them," Anatoly said, staring at the American menacingly for another minute before turning and walking away. There was a silence once the mobster left, but after a moment, Wilder looked around at the rest of the men around him.

"Well? You heard him," he said. "Find them! Boris said he shot MacGyver, so they couldn't have gotten far!"

A man ran into the room, panting slightly but needing to tell Wilder something. "I checked out farmhouse down the road," he informed the American. Wilder had sent out people to search the surrounding areas, hoping that someone would have seen where the two escaped prisoners went.

"And?" Wilder asked expectantly.

"I found blood in garage; boy was definitely there. Owner says they stole his car, and I got license plate number."

"Where were you two minutes ago?" Wilder asked in annoyance. "Nevermind. That's a lead; follow it!"

The men scurried around to follow orders. Someone contacted one of their men in the police and had them put out an alert for the car that had been stolen. Wilder watched the proceedings with a frustrated expression; he knew they needed to find MacGyver and Jack, along with the witness, but he hated the fact that Popev blamed him for MacGyver and the girl getting away. His face dropped into a glare, and he snapped at any men that came to ask him questions.

He finally decided to go into the next room to get away from the others, otherwise he knew that Dunn wasn't going to be the only murder he was trying to cover up.

 _0-0-0_

As Anja drove the car onto a narrow, one way street, she kept her eyes out. She knew there was a payphone close by, and she knew if they could find that, they'd be able to get ahold of Jack. She drove a little ways further, then her eyes finally landed on the phone booth she had been looking for.

She glanced over at the young man, who had slumped further over in his seat, leaning against the window for support. She had kept talking at him throughout the car ride, eliciting a response from him every now and then, simply trying to keep him awake. However, he hadn't been very responsive the last few minutes, and Anja knew that he needed help soon. With a deep breath, she put the car into park, turned off the ignition, braced herself for the cold as she opened her door.

She saw Mac wince as the cold air entered the car briefly when she opened her door, and she apologized softly when he jumped as she opened his door. "Come," she said, leaning inside the car to grab his left side and help pull him out. With an involuntary groan, Mac stumbled out of the car, leaning heavily on Anja as the two of them limped towards the payphone booth. Anja pulled open the door and she and Mac both got in before closing the door. She inserted some coins to make the phone work, and Mac picked up the phone and dialed the numbers.

"Delta-Charlie-Tango, 7641," Mac muttered. Anja was slightly confused about the words that had just come out of the American's mouth, but she didn't ask about it. As MacGyver waited on the phone, he noticed that his shivering had become less violent, and he and Anja both seemed to be a little bit less cold thanks to the close quarters of the phone booth, making their body warmth much more prominent.

"Mac?" Jack's worried voice came on the other end of the phone.

"We need help."

 _0-0-0_

"Okay, okay, tell me where you are," Jack said, his chest flooding with relief as he heard the kid's voice, though it was unnaturally quiet and subdued. Jack could have also sworn he heard his partner's voice hitch a little at the end, like he was in pain. He had known it was his partner as soon as the phone started ringing and he saw it wasn't Thornton; no one else knew the number, and no one else could get through on an unsecured line without a security code, which Mac had.

"Don't know where we are," his partner admitted. "At a phone booth," he added.

"Well, I'm sure there are lots of those around," Jack prodded. He heard another voice and suddenly it was Anja talking to Jack instead of Mac.

"We are few miles East of where you find me," she explained. "One-way street...um...where are you?" she finally asked. "May be easier for us to come to you."

"I'm in some sorta warehouse," Jack said, looking around the building he was in. "It kinda seems like it was an emergency supplies storehouse. I found a generator, so it's pretty warm in here," he added. He heard a bit more muttering, then Anja came back on the line.

"We come to you," she stated. "Can you...explain where you are?"

Jack gave the woman specific details of how to get where he was from the motel, and she thanked him. "We see you soon," she promised. "Find, um…" Jack heard her asking Mac about a Russian word, and he heard his partner's tired response. "Find supplies," she said.

"What kind of supplies?" Jack asked, hoping that she wasn't going to say first-aid supplies.

"Injured supplies," she replied. Jack's stomach sank; one of them, and he was assuming it was his young partner, had been hurt.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to keep as much worry out of his voice as he could. He knew that if he let the woman know he was worried, there was more of a chance she might freak out.

"He was shot," Anja said, making Jack's eyes bug out of his head.

"What?!" So much for staying calm.

"Jack," Mac's voice came back on over the phone.

"Dude, you and I are going to have a talk when you get here!" Jack said frustratedly. "That should have been the first thing you told me!"

"Sorry," Mac replied tiredly. "We just needed somewhere safe to contact you. It's a shoulder shot," he added, trying to calm his partner.

"I sense a 'but' coming," Jack said suspiciously.

"But the bullet didn't go all the way through," Mac admitted grudgingly.

"Dude…" Jack said, taking in several deep breaths to calm himself.

"Chew me out when we get there," Mac requested.

"Oh, you can bet I will," Jack promised. "Get your skinny butt over here now," he added sternly, sounding like a parent.

"On our way," Mac replied.

"Be safe," Jack added before the kid could hang up the phone.

"That's the plan," Mac confirmed. With that, the call was ended, and Jack slipped the phone back into his pocket. He looked around the warehouse, trying to see if it had adequate supplies to help his _shot_ partner.

He glanced at the man still sitting in the chair, who was watching him with a curious expression. "What are you lookin' at?" Jack asked crossly. "Y'know what, don't answer," he said, even though the Russian looked like he had no intention of answering. Jack glanced at the man's hand, seeing that the makeshift bandage was pretty much ruined, and Jack figured he should probably take care of his prisoner's hand too. He walked over to a shelf and began rifling through the items that had been left there.

"If there was ever a time for emergency supplies, now would be that time," Jack muttered to himself as he began pulling out things from the shelf.

 _0-0-0_

Anja pulled their car right up to the front doors of the warehouse and turned off the engine before getting out of the car and quickly hurrying over to Mac's side so that he didn't collapse as soon as he stood up. The two of them stumbled to the door and Anja reached out, grasping the handle and pulling it open.

"Guys!" Jack exclaimed, running over to them as soon as he saw them open the doors. He relived Anja from her Mac-carrying duties and helped his partner over to the table he had found while waiting for them. He had done everything he could to clean the table, but he still stuck one of his jackets on top of the table to give a barrier between his partner and the table.

"We've got two options here, bud," Jack said as Mac sat on the table. "I can get the bullet out while you're sitting up like this, or you can lay on your stomach. Which would you prefer?"

"Sitting," Mac grunted.

"Sitting it is then," Jack complied, grabbing some of the supplies he had found while he was searching earlier.

While he had been searching, he had found what he assumed (and what smelled like) rubbing alcohol, which was part of what he had washed the table with. He also found some crude-looking medical tools that he poured the alcohol over.

He looked at his partner with a sympathetic look, holding up a box of matches. "Gotta sterilize 'em a little more, bud," he said. Mac nodded in understanding, and Jack lit a match and held one of the tools over the flame. The alcohol droplets still left on the metal sizzled and burned, and everyone in the warehouse made a disgusted face as the smell wafted through the air. Once Jack had sterilized the tools to the best of his ability, he undid his belt and held it out to his friend to bite down on. The blond accepted the strip of leather gratefully.

"Try not to damage it too much though, bud," Jack requested. "That's hand-crafted leather right there." The older American was standing behind Mac, meaning the younger agent had to turn his head slightly to roll his eyes at his older friend. He began making noises that sounded like sarcasm at Jack, which was precisely when Jack poured some more of the rubbing alcohol onto the wound.

Mac's eyes immediately went wide, then squeezed shut as he bit down on the leather belt. "Sorry bud," Jack said; it was breaking his heart to see his friend in pain like this, but he knew it had to be done. "I figured if I got you a little distracted it might help take the shock of the initial pain away," he admitted. MacGyver didn't respond; he didn't even acknowledge that he'd heard what his friend had said. His face had lost what little color it had left, and Anja could see Mac's knuckles turning white as he gripped the table to stop himself from making any sudden movements that could harm him or his companions.

After a few moments of pain, MacGyver's eyes opened slightly, only to immediately roll back into his head. He began to fall to the side, but Anja was there to catch him. With Jack's help, they lowered the unconscious young man onto his stomach, making sure to avoid any unnecessary pressure to his wound.

It took Jack several more minutes to remove the bullet from the blond's shoulder, and then to patch up the wound as best he could. He looked at Anja, whose eyes had gone slightly wider than normal, and who had begun shaking slightly. "He's gonna be fine," he assured the woman. Anja nodded, her fingernails once again in her mouth. Jack's mouth slanted slightly in concern as he looked at the woman.

"How are _you_ doing?" he asked.

"Not very good," she admitted with a sad smile.

"We've all been there," Jack assured her as he set down his impromptu surgical equipment. "It's perfectly normal for you to freak out," he assured her. "Mac's out for the count, and if you want, I'll turn around so I can't see," he offered with a small smile, being completely serious about turning around. Anja, whose eyes had begun filling up with tears, let out a choked chuckle and wiped away some of the tears that had fallen. Jack smiled, glad to see that he had been able to make the woman smile, even just for a little bit.

"I'm serious, I can turn around if you need me to," he offered with another chuckle, turning halfway around to show her he was serious. A laugh escaped from Anja's mouth, and she smiled at the older man.

"Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Any time," Jack replied. He held out his arms, and after a minute Anja walked into the hug, burying her head in Jack's shoulder. Jack wrapped his arms around the woman and pulled her close, simply being there as a shoulder to cry on, which she did.

They stood that way for a minute, and then Jack's phone began ringing. "Sorry," he said as he pulled it out.

"It's okay," she assured him as she stepped away, wiping a few stray tears away as Jack answered the phone.

"Patty," Jack said. "I got Mac and Anja."

"They're there with you?" she asked.

"Yeah. Mac was shot in the shoulder and we had to get the bullet out, but other than a few other bumps and cuts, and Mac's severely bruised nose, we're all in one relative piece," Jack replied.

"Mac was shot?" Thornton asked, and Jack could tell she was working to keep her tone even.

"Hey, I didn't pull the trigger!" Jack defended.

"I know, I'm sorry," Thornton apologized.

"It's fine, I know this isn't how the mission was supposed to turn out, and we're all just a little stressed," Jack assured his boss. "Hey, have you found out anything about our Russian friend here?" he asked, glancing over at the man who had been tied to the chair with duct tape that Jack had found after once again trying to escape. The man also had a strip of tape across his mouth, because he had also started in on the yelling names and insults in Russian that Jack couldn't understand.

"I did actually," Thornton replied. "It's what I called you about in the first place."

"So what's the scoop?"

"Is he there with you?" Thornton asked instead of telling Jack the answers.

"Uh, yeah. He's sitting right here," Jack replied.

"Has he told you anything?"

"No," Jack replied, kind of wishing that his boss would just tell him what she knew. "I tried a bit of, um, persuasion, but y'know what they say. Most of the time, information given under torture isn't viable or trustworthy."

"Good to see you remember some of the things I taught you," Thornton said, and Jack was surprised to hear a bit of sarcasm leaking through her voice. He was about to comment on it, but his boss continued speaking and he knew better than to cut her off to make a witty remark.

"Put me on speaker. I need to talk to him," Thornton instructed. Jack's eyebrows raised in confusion but he did as his boss requested.

"Say hi," Jack said, pulling the tape off his prisoner's mouth once he had the phone on speaker. Thornton bypassed the greeting and instead immediately began listing off things they had found.

"Your name is Alex Ivanov. You were born on August 13th, 1978 to Myra and Gregor Ivanov. You have three brothers and a little sister; you began having money troubles around age twenty-five, but a year or so later, all those debts disappeared. I'm assuming that's when you began working for the mob."

"You think this is meant to scare me?" Alex scoffed. "That's public information."

"But is it public information about where your daughter and wife live? Didn't you put move them somewhere safe so that they wouldn't be in harm's way of any repercussions from rival families?" Thornton asked. Alex blanched.

"You're bluffing. You don't know where they are, and even if you did, you are American government. You wouldn't hurt innocents," he challenged.

"That's the thing, Alex," Thornton said quietly. "I may be American government, but my agency technically doesn't exist, so what I do doesn't happen either."

"I calling your bluff," Alex said, refusing to budge and believe that Thornton would go after his wife and daughter.

"I see here that you and your father weren't close," Thornton said, switching tactics. "I also see that he is serving time in a Siberian prison, for something he claims that he didn't do, and for something the police had very little evidence to convict him on."

"And?" Alex said, sounding extremely unimpressed.

"And some of my techs were able to pull some footage from the day of the crime. They found some very interesting video footage of you on there, but your father was nowhere to be seen."

"So you're threatening to send me to prison in Siberia? I bet I could handle it," Alex said, though his confidence was now sounding more forced.

"Oh no," Thornton said. "If you don't cooperate and tell us where Wilder and Anatoly Popev are, I'm going to make Siberia seem like a luau," she promised, her voice dangerously calm and quiet. Alex stared at Jack with a dubious look in his eyes, but Jack could see a hint of fear behind the doubting gaze.

"I'd trust what she says, man," Jack encouraged. "She's dealt with and beaten far more dangerous men than you. She can make the world as you know it disappear in the blink of an eye. You think you're scared now? Can you imagine how intimidating she would be if she were here in the room with us right now?"

Alex looked between Jack and the phone, weighing his options. "I know of one place they may be," he finally relented.

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere!" Jack said triumphantly.

"Where is it?" Thornton asked.

"It's a farmhouse," Alex replied. "I can give you address, but I want a deal."

"The only deal you're getting is that you're going to a Siberian prison instead of somewhere worse," Thornton replied.

"Net," Anja said suddenly. Jack looked at her with a confused look. "We were at farmhouse before," she explained. "They would have left once we get out, no?"

Jack looked at Alex expectantly. "Well? Would they have left?"

"Just remember that your future imprisonment depends on this," Thornton reminded him. Alex glared at the group of them, then finally sighed in resignation.

"There is one other place they would have gone if farmhouse was compromised," he relented.

"Address please," Jack requested. Alex glared at the American, but finally rattled off the address. "Great," Jack said. "You've been a real peach," he added, putting the strip of tape back over Alex's mouth.

"Jack," Thornton said. "You're staying there," she reminded him.

"Patty, you can't!" Jack insisted.

"I can, and I am," Thornton replied sternly. "You need to stay with Mac and Anja, and you will wait for exfil. I've got the address and I'll send it to the second team coming in; I'm also having techs pull the location from your sat phone, and exfil should be there soon. The secondary team should be with Wilder within the hour, and exfil shouldn't be more than thirty minutes later."

Jack wanted to argue, but he looked at the Russian woman they had rescued, and then over to his partner, still passed out on the old table. He knew Thornton was right, so instead of arguing, he simply said, "Yes ma'am," and left it at that.

"I'm letting exfil know where you're at, and they'll come to you. Be expecting them in ninety minutes or less. And Jack," Thornton added. "I want you to stay there. Do _not_ move from that warehouse," Patricia ordered. "I'll let you know if anything comes up," she promised. The call was disconnected, and Jack looked at Anja.

"I guess it's back to waiting," he said. Alex rolled his eyes and muttered something illegible due to the tape across his mouth, but Jack and Anja both ignored him. They pulled up some more chairs and sat down, beginning the wait for exfil.

 _0-0-0_

"We found them," one of the men said as he hurried into the room Wilder was sitting in. The American looked up from his hands, a hungry look coming over his face.

"Where?"

"Industrial part of town, a warehouse. Someone spotted stolen car and called it in. They said there's another car there, meaning-"

"Meaning Dalton is probably there too," Wilder finished. "With MacGyver injured, they're gonna have their defenses down." He thought for a minute, then made a decision. "We're going after them; get everyone ready. Leave Anton and Boris though. They had their chances to catch these guys before they escaped and they failed."

The man nodded his head and exited the room, and Wilder stood. " _Nowhere to run now, boys,"_ he thought smugly to himself.

 _ **Sorry guys, I know these chapters are super long! I guess I could have split it up into two chapters, but *shrug* c'est la vi. (I think that's how you spell it? XD)**_

 _ **EEEEPPPP NEW EPISODE TONIGHT IS EVERYONE READY?! This hiatus has been far too long, though after tonight we only have two more episodes of the first season *sobs* But I guess that's what Fanfic is for, right? To get us through the long wait to our victorious season 2? ;) I'm still geeking about that, if no one had noticed... ;)**_

 _ **Lemme know what you guys think of this chapter!**_

 _ **Net=No**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Yay! Chapter 8! You guys are seriously the best people in the world, let me just tell you. Longer AN at the bottom :)**_

MacGyver's eyes slowly opened and he looked around, trying to remember what had happened. He realized he was laying on his stomach, which was his least favorite position to lay in, so he began to push himself up. He quit that action real quick though when his shoulder screamed at him to stop moving, and suddenly everything came back. Mac heard a groan from somewhere close by, then he realized the sound had come from his mouth.

"Mac?" he heard a familiar voice ask. He felt a hand on his uninjured shoulder, and he glanced to his side and saw Jack standing there with a look of relief on his face. "Hey bud," the older man said. "How're ya feelin'?"

"Like I've been shot," Mac muttered as he started to try and sit up again.

"Whoa," Jack said, trying to keep his friend down without hurting him further. "Dude, where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere," Mac said. "I'm just sitting up."

"Do you think you can?"

"It was a shoulder shot, Jack, not a chest or butt shot," Mac reminded his partner.

"Yeah," Jack said, not really having an argument that would hold any water against a determined MacGyver. "Just...take it slow, would you?"

"Yes mom," Mac snarked.

"I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again; it it means you stay safe and as uninjured as you can be, I definitely don't mind being called mom," Jack shot back, though he was glad to see that Mac's witty personality had returned. Jack knew that that usually meant the kid was feeling more like himself, even if he did have a hole in his shoulder.

"Here," Jack added, holding out a bottle of pills and shaking them in front of his partner. "Take some of these; I think they're the Russian equivalent of Tylenol?"

Mac looked like he wanted to argue, but his shoulder began throbbing, and he decided taking something to dull the pain wouldn't be a bad idea. He took the pills and dry swallowed them, throwing his head back slightly to help the pills go down. That movement jerked his shoulder though, and the pain immediately made him dizzy. He closed his eyes and groaned, trying to ride out the pain. He leaned to one side unconsciously, and he felt strong, steady hands grabbing his uninjured shoulder. He heard Jack next to him, talking to him, and after a few more minutes, the pain subsided enough that he was able to open his eyes.

Jack helped the young man sit back up, making sure the kid didn't move his shoulder again. Once Mac was sitting upright, Jack grabbed some PVC pipe he had found, as well as some zip ties that had been lying around, and he constructed a crude splint out of that, using the elbow PVC pieces to attach the straight pieces together, and zip tied the pipes to Mac's arm. Once that was done, Jack grabbed a strip of cloth and fashioned a sling, tying it around his friend's neck to keep his arm as immobile as possible.

When he finally finished, he caught Mac staring at him with an impressed look on his face. "What?" Jack asked.

"I'm impressed," MacGyver replied with a smile.

"With what?" Jack asked, though he knew full well what his partner was trying to say.

"Your improvisation skills for the sling," Mac said, gesturing with his uninjured hand.

"Learned from the best," Jack said with a wink. Mac didn't reply, but a small, slightly smug smile flickered across his face.

"So what are we doing?" Mac asked after a minute.

"Waiting for exfil," Jack responded. "We got our good friend Alex to give us a location his friends are staying at, so Thornton's sending in another team to get everyone, while sending the exfil team to this location. We have very specific orders to stay in this spot," Jack explained. "So you might as well just sit there and rest," he added sternly, trying to keep his partner from hopping off the table.

"Jack," Mac argued. "I'm fine to walk around," he insisted.

"MacGyver!" Anja said excitedly as she came back from the back of the building. "You are awake!"

"Hey," he greeted warmly as she gave him a one-armed hug. "You doing okay?" he asked.

"Better than you," she replied.

"Well, pretty sure that most people are doing better than I am right now," he agreed with a chuckle. His two companions laughed as well, and for a minute, Mac forgot that they were in hiding from the Russian mob.

Their sat phone started ringing, so Jack stepped away to answer it. MacGyver and Anja stared at him curiously, their faces falling when the older man's face took on an angry expression. He turned around and began whispering in an angry tone, but his voice was quiet enough that neither of the younger people could make out what he was saying.

"Jack!" Mac said finally, holding his good arm out in an expectant gesture. "You gonna tell us what's going on?" he asked when his partner looked at him.

"Okay, I'm gonna go," Jack said. "Thanks for the heads up," he added before he turned off the phone.

"What was that about?" Mac asked.

"Thornton got word from her guys; they got to the place Wilder was supposed to be, but there were only two men there. When they were questioned, they broke down and told the team that Wilder got a tip about a stolen car that was spotted here," he explained. "Once the team realized what was happening, they turned around. They're on their way here right now, but according to Wilder's men, he's been gone for about fifteen minutes already. It's only about a thirty-five minute drive from here to their safehouse," he added.

"So they're only twenty minutes away," Mac continued. "Meaning that even if backup gets here in a timely manner, we're still looking at holding Wilder and his men off for fifteen minutes?"

"At least," Jack confirmed with a nod. Anja looked between the two men with a touch of fear in her eyes, but she was doing a remarkable job of not freaking out.

"So what do we do now?" she asked. MacGyver looked at Jack.

"Does this place have a back door?" he asked.

"I think so," Jack said, glancing towards the rear of the warehouse. "Lemme go check." The older American jogged off, but returned a few moments later. "There is, but there's a ton of stuff in front of it," he explained. "It'll take awhile to get it unblocked."

"Okay. Jack, you go work on getting that door uncleared. Be prepared for Anja and I to come to you," he directed.

"Sure thing, bud," Jack said, giving a small salute.

"Anja, you're going to stay here and help me," Mac said as he looked at the woman.

"What are we going to do?" she asked. Mac and Jack looked at each other.

"Improvise," they said at the same time.

0-0-0

Jack was at the back door, moving things as quickly as he could, while Mac and Anja worked up front to make some sort of defense.

"What do you need?" Anja asked as she stared at the young man.

"I need you to grab some sugar and toothpaste," Mac said, pointing the items out on the shelf. She nodded in understanding and went to grab the requested items, while Mac grabbed a few other materials he needed. He grabbed the box of matches Jack had deposited on the table, as well as a small saucepan he found in one of the boxes stacked in the corner. "Anja," Mac called out. "Can you find any paper cups?"

"I will look," she replied, beginning to go through

 _The great thing about this being an emergency shelter is that it's got basically everything someone could need to survive, meaning food, water, matches, and...a hot plate?_ Mac pulled a hot plate out from one of the boxes and shook his head in amazement. _Best place we could have been holed up, really. I mean, besides not being holed up at all._

"Will these work?" Anja asked, holding up some styrofoam cups.

"Perfect," Mac nodded. The Russian woman brought the supplies she had gathered over and set them next to Mac.

"What are you making?" she asked curiously as he poured the ingredients into the saucepan and lit the small hot plate he had found.

"Um, well if you mix sugar, some toothpaste and water together and then boil them, you've got a recipe for a smoke bomb. Stick it in these cups and put some matches in them, and you've got the carrier and the fuse," he explained. Anja's eyebrows had raised during his explanation, and when he was done explaining, she looked at him with an impressed look.

"What is it that you do?" she asked, shaking her head in slight disbelief as the mixture in the saucepan started boiling.

"A little of this, a little of that," came the blond's reply. "Hey, could you also find something that has ammonia?" At her confused look, he tried to find the word in Russian. "Um...ammiak," he tried again. She still looked a little confused, so Mac tried one more time. "It's in a lot of cleaning supplies," he explained. "Just look on the ingredients list and find something with the highest concentration of ammonia," he requested. She nodded and went to look for the item, and while she was gone Mac stirred the smoke bomb materials.

The Russian woman soon came back with a few bottles of glass cleaner, holding them out for Mac's inspection. He looked them over and smiled at Anja. "Perfect," he assured her. "Okay, I'm gonna need your help to make this next thing," he said. Anja nodded.

"Whatever you need," she promised.

"Okay, I need you to first, break the heads off of thirty or so matches," he instructed, handing her the box of matches. She looked confused but proceeded to do as he requested, and soon the two of them were surrounded by match heads separated from the rest of their sticks. Mac checked the smoke bomb material and took if off of the heat, giving it a short chance to cool down before he would pour it in the cups.

"Perfect," he praised. "Now all you need to do is grab those canning jars over there," he said, pointing to the glass jars on one of the shelves. "Pour the cleaner into the jars and then put the match heads into the liquid. Then just make sure the screw the lids back on as tight as you can."

"That is all for this trick?" she asked somewhat skeptically.

"Well, it's not a trick, it's science," Mac corrected. "But yeah. That's it. The chemicals in the ammonia react with the match heads, and when they're once again exposed to air, they release a sulfuric smell. I'm hoping that that, mixed with the smoke from this," he said, indicating the saucepan that he was about to pour into the cups. "Will give us enough of a distraction to get a jump on escaping."

"Hope?" Anja asked, eyebrows going up slightly.

"I mean, I'm pretty sure it's gonna work. The science behind it is sound; usually you're just supposed to let the matches sit in the chemicals for a little longer, but I'm hoping that it'll still work," he explained.

"You say this with such confidence," Anja said dryly.

"Confidence is all we've really got," Mac replied with a smile. He instinctively went to pour the saucepan into the cups with both hands, jerking the makeshift sling and causing him to gasp in pain as his shoulder reminded him very loudly that he had just been shot.

"Here," Anja said, hurriedly taking the saucepan out of the young American's hands. "I do this," she insisted. Following Mac's instructions, she carefully poured the sugar/toothpaste mix into the cups. Once the pasty substance was in the cups, Mac stuck two or three matches in each before he set them aside. His face was still a little ashen, but he seemed to be handling himself pretty well.

"Are you alright?" Anja asked.

"No, but I'll manage," Mac assured her. Anja was going to reply, but Jack hurried over to them.

"I hope ya'll have finished what you needed to," he said. "Cuz they're here."

0-0-0

"Have you got the back door unblocked?" Mac asked.

"It's gettin' there; I still have a few more things to move," Jack replied, panting slightly and wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"Can you get it cleared within the next few minutes?" Mac requested.

"Sure thing," Jack said. "Mac...what are those?" he asked, pointing towards the styrofoam cups.

"Um, they're smoke bombs," Mac replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "They're gonna help give us cover while we run to the back door in case they get in before you clear the door," he explained.

"That's great and all bud, but won't those nifty little things also incapacitate us?" Jack asked as he picked up and observed the smoke bomb with a touch of hesitancy.

"They would, but lucky for us, I found these," Mac replied, holding his good hand up, with some hospital masks dangling from his fingers.

"My man," Jack said with a smile, taking one of the masks for himself while Anja took another one. "Uh, Mac," Jack said. "I think you musta hit your head harder than you let on; there're only three of us, and you've got four masks," Jack pointed out. MacGyver shook his head, staring pointedly at Alex, who was still sitting in the chair Jack had deposited him in when he had first gotten there. "Oh, you can't be serious!" Jack argued.

"Jack, come on," Mac insisted. "He's actually been a lot of help in a roundabout way. Just think, if he hadn't told us where Wilder and his men were stationed, the secondary team wouldn't have known that they were coming, and we would have been caught completely unawares," the blond pointed out. "We don't have time to argue," he added as Jack opened his mouth to do just that.

"Fine," Jack grumbled, slipping his mask on and setting the smoke bombs down. "I'll let you know if I get it open before they get inside," Jack promised before he ran back to the rear of the warehouse. Mac nodded in acknowledgement, then slipped his own mask on with one hand before walking over to Alex. He got the prisoner to his feet and marched him back over to where he and Anja would be waiting once they set the bombs, and made him sit down next to one of the shelves.

He slipped the mask over their prisoner's face with his good hand before speaking to him. "We're taking a chance by taking you with us," he reminded the man. "If your buddies out there find out you ratted them out, I don't think they'd be very happy, do you?"

Alex's eyes were cold and unreadable, and after a few moments of staring at each other intensely, Mac finally looked away, stepping back to examine the scene around him. Anja was busy placing the four smoke bombs at different spots, while still keeping them close enough together that she and Mac would be able to light them without much time passing. Mac looked down at the ground and picked up on of the bottles filled with the stink bomb materials, rolling it over in his good hand as he thought about what they were about to do.

Jack had barricaded the front door the best that he could, but Mac knew that that wouldn't hold the mobsters back for long. Inside the warehouse it was dead silent except for the muffled grunts they heard coming from Jack as he moved heavy objects away from their escape. Mac and Anja simply waited for the inevitable moment they knew was coming, when the mobsters would break in. They listened, and soon they heard tires rolling on the gravel outside, and the opening and closing of car doors. There were a few muttered words that none of them could make out, but the door suddenly shook, and those muttered voices turned to shouting. Mac could hear Wilder shouting at the men to break the doors down and get inside.

Anja and Mac made eye contact, and Mac nodded, giving her the 'go ahead' to light the smoke bombs. The two of them struck some matches and held them next to the matches in the pasty substance until they caught on fire, and once all the bombs had been lit, they scurried back towards the shelves. Once they reached the shelves, the two of them bent down and picked up the jars of stink bomb; Mac grabbed one in his good hand, while Anja took the remaining two, and they prepared to throw the glass jars.

They had timed the lighting of the smoke bombs perfectly. The smoke began rising right as the door was broken in, and as soon as the flame touched the gray pasty substance, the bombs exploded and smoke engulfed the entire floor of the warehouse. Wilder and his men burst in and immediately began coughing on the minty, sweet, smokey taste that the smoke bombs produced.

Another nod from Mac, and he and Anja lobbed their glass jars towards the mobsters as well. They heard the sound of the glass breaking, and liquid going everywhere, and then everyone was hit with the smell. Even with the medical masks on, Anja, Mac, and Alex all gagged at the sulfuric smell that wafted through the warehouse, but it was nothing compared to what Wilder and his men were going through. They were all gagging and bending in half, being hit with massive coughing fits caused by the smoke.

"Come on!" Mac yelled, his voice muffled through the mask. He motioned for Anja to run and grabbed at Alex, pulling the mobster with them as they began to run towards Jack. "Jack, we're comin' in hot!" Mac called out, wincing as he tried to keep his arm as immobile and as close to his side as he could as they ran. Jack came into view, and Mac saw that he was just removing the last large box.

"Come on!" the older American yelled, waving his hand at his friends, urging them to hurry up. They reached Jack, who ushered them through the door, first Mac, then Alex. Anja went through next, followed immediately by Jack.

The sun had begun rising, meaning they had spent the entire night running from Wilder and getting back together, but Mac was just happy to see that they had light. That was, until he saw four men surrounding the door. He turned to tell the others to stop, to stay where they were, but they were already out the door, and before he was able to get a word out, he felt a hand clamp down on his injured shoulder.

He let out a groan of pain and sank to his knees, his vision greying out as the pressure remained. He vaguely heard Jack shouting, but the older man's yells were soon silenced. Finally the pressure was taken off his shoulder and Mac's vision slowly started to return to normal, though his breathing continued to be labored, and his shoulder was shaking from the pain. Someone ripped off Mac's mask, but the blond hardly noticed.

As his vision returned to normal, Mac glanced around at his friends, and his heart dropped a little. Jack was on his knees, clutching at his bleeding mouth and glaring at the man who was holding a gun to his head; Anja was being held by a man who had grabbed her hair and put a gun against her temple. Her hands were grasping at the hands holding her hair, and she was trying not to cry, but Mac could see her panicked eyes. Both of his friend's masks had been removed as well. Then there was Alex; the Russian mobster was currently having his hands untied and the tape removed from his mouth, after the mask was taken off his face. However, when Alex tried to move away, one of his mob buddies grabbed his bicep and held it tight, refusing to let him go anywhere.

After a few moments, Wilder and the rest of the men burst through the back door, still coughing and wiping the tears away from their eyes. Mac smirked a little as he saw the cuffs of Wilder's pants soaking wet and sulfuric smelling, but the smile was quickly wiped off his face as Wilder turned his angry eyes on the group.

"We've got a bit of talking to do," he said, his voice taking on a dark, threatening tone.

 _ **Okay, so for these MacGyverisms, they do actually work, but I tweaked them just enough that it is still believable, but that it is able to fit their needs at the moment :D**_

 _ **Okay, I loved the episode on Friday! It was just what the doctor ordered, and I couldn't be happier! ALSO SO EXCITED FOR NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE! Thanks to Axxonly for showing me where to find awesome pictures! Just google spoilers MacGyver 2016 and it will come up!**_

 _ **Lemme know what you think!**_

 _ **Ammiak=Ammonia**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Guys! Over 80 reviews! Ah! This is so exciting, it's a first for me :D Also...You all know I only leave you on those cliffhangers because I love you, right? ;)**_

 _ **I'm so glad that all of you seem to like what I've done with Anja :) Unfortunately, our time with her is coming to a close :( There is this chapter, and then another chapter that I'll probably put up tomorrow, just because you've all been so great, but these are the last two chapters :(**_

 _ **Usual disclaimers, I own nothing except my OC's :) (Another disclaimer, I edited this while I was really tired, so let me know if you find any mistakes XD)**_

The American traitor glared at all of them, then turned his eyes on Anja. He advanced on the Russian woman, and MacGyver and Jack began struggling against the men holding them, only to have their attempts immediately squashed. Mac's guard grabbed his shoulder again, and the man with Jack pistol-whipped the back of Jack's head.

"You are one hard lady to find," Wilder commented as he came to a stop in front of the woman. "And it's a shame that we have to come together under these circumstances," he said with a slight pout. "If we had met any other time, you would have been someone I would have sincerely liked to get to know," he informed her, a predatory smile crossing over his lips. Mac's eyes narrowed and he tried to get up one more time, but ended up blacking out for a moment due to the pain in his shoulder.

When MacGyver came back around, he was still on his knees, but his guard had grabbed a fistful his hair to keep him upright. Mac's neck had stretched back slightly, and he struggled to right himself.

When he had slumped over, Wilder immediately walked over to the blond, despite Jack's growled threatenings and stood in front of the young man while he came back around. "Now now," Wilder said disapprovingly. "Don't move around too much, Angus. We wouldn't want you to get hurt now, would we?"

"Way past that," Mac grunted.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Wilder said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders to convey that he didn't care. "It serves you right though," he said. "You and Jack always did have to be the best at what you did, so this is your just desserts," he griped.

"Y'know dude," Jack said. "There's a reason Mac and I are so good at what we do. Maybe if you'd spent a little more time actually being an agent, rather than selling secrets to the Russians, you'd be half as good as Mac and I."

Wilder's eyes flared in anger and the guard holding Jack laid a solid punch to the man's cheek. "No one asked for your opinion, Jack," Wilder said snidely.

"You should know me by now, Nick," Jack said with a swollen smirk. "I give my opinion whether it's wanted or not."

Wilder rolled his eyes at Jack and turned to face Alex, who was still being restrained by one of his mob associates. "Alex," he drawled. "We wondered what had happened to you," he said. "Shoulda known that Jack would get the better of you in a fight," he said in a scathing tone. "What have you told them?"

"Nothing," Alex insisted, though Mac could see a touch of fear in his eyes, and heard a tremor in his voice. "I have told them nothing!"

"See," Wilder said, sticking his hands in his pockets and pacing in a small circle in front of the Russian mobster. "Normally, I'd be inclined to believe you. But I know these people," he reminded Alex. "Better yet, I know their boss. I know how intimidating she can be, so if she talked to you, I know you would crack." He stopped pacing and walked over to MacGyver, grabbing a fistful of the blond's hair and pulling on it slightly. "Also, how would dear MacGyver here have known to make defenses, unless he somehow figured out we were coming?"

"I did not know you were coming," Alex insisted.

"No you didn't," Wilder conceded. "But still, something isn't adding up. Oh well," he said after a minute of thinking. "I guess we'll just leave it up for Anatoly to decide what to do with you," he said with another shrug.

"Leave what for me to decide?" A voice from behind them asked. Everyone turned to see Anatoly Popev walk through the back door. He was sticking a handkerchief in his pocket, which Mac assumed the mob boss had used to keep from inhaling as much of the smoke as possible.

"I am grateful to have been kept in the loop this time, and I am happy to see you didn't mess this up, Wilder," Anatoly said, slightly scathingly. Wilder didn't say anything, but his eyes did narrow slightly. Anatoly walked over to Jack and stared at him. "This is the muscle?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's Dalton," Wilder confirmed.

"Thanks for only telling him I was muscle," Jack complained. "Didn't mention anything about my killer wit, killer hair, nothing? Just that I'm 'the muscle,'" he said, dropping his voice on the last two words to make fun of the way Wilder talked.

"Shut up, Dalton," Wilder snapped.

"And this must be young MacGyver," Popev said as he walked over to the blond, still on his knees. "I take it you're responsible for the mess inside?" he asked, gesturing towards the warehouse.

"Yeah, he made all that crap," Wilder said sullenly, reluctant to admit that MacGyver had been able to make both smoke and stink bombs with materials found in a warehouse. Anatoly continued to examine the young man in front of him.

"Shame we have to kill you," he said as he looked MacGyver up and down. "We could have really used man like you. But we could never trust you," he said, a hint of regret in his voice. "Not that I can really trust the American already working for me," he added in a harsher tone, glaring at Wilder.

"Anatoly," Wilder began, but the mob boss shook his head curtly, indicating that he didn't want to hear whatever Wilder had to say.

"Let's get this over with," Anatoly said, waving his hand casually. "We can't have any witnesses."

The men holding the prisoners immediately had a small riot on their hands as they all began to struggle. All four of the prisoners being held, including Alex, didn't stop struggling, even as they felt the guns placed against their heads. Mac's guard grabbed his shoulder, and even though the blond's vision immediately blurred and Mac felt like a fire was spreading through his shoulder, he struggled as much as he could; he wasn't going down without a fight.

Anja pulled as hard as she could against her captor, even though her scalp was begging her to stop. Her nails raked across the hands holding her hair, but instead of letting her go, the man only growled at her in Russian and tightened his grip.

Jack jerked himself out of his captor's grip and immediately threw his elbow back in his face. There was a loud and satisfying crack, but Jack couldn't savor the moment as three other men threw themselves at him to try and keep him down. Jack saw, through the many men trying to pin him down, his young partner struggling futilely against the man holding him, and Jack's stomach dropped when he saw a gun placed against Mac's head. Jack pushed even harder against the men holding him, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to make it to his friend in time.

Suddenly a shot rang out; there was a shout of pain, and the man holding Mac dropped his gun, falling to the ground and clutching his knee in agony. There were shouts of confusion from the mobsters, but Jack's face split into a huge smile as he saw DXS agents pouring out of the back door of the warehouse, guns drawn and aimed at the mobsters. Jack felt a surge of energy and he threw up his arms, hitting away the hands of the men holding him. He stood up and punched one man in the face, he kicked someone else's knee in, and he grabbed the last man who had been holding him in a headlock.

Anatoly's face was slack with shock as the American agents poured through the door. His eyes took on a murderous glint, and he pulled out his own gun and aimed it at Wilder. Before he could pull the trigger though, his wrist was hit with a piece of rebar, sending his gun clattering to the ground. The mob boss let out a surprised grunt of pain as he locked eyes with MacGyver, who threw the piece of metal to the ground. Mac's eyes looked tired, but they had a victorious gleam in them as he watched DXS agents grab Anatoly.

Wilder's eyes were wide as he stared at MacGyver. He couldn't believe the young man had stopped Anatoly from killing him. Mac raised his eyebrows at the traitor as he caught Wilder looking at him. Jack, however, was not going to let the traitor get off that easy.

"Hey Wilder," he said, walking briskly up to the man. Wilder turned his face to Jack, but he had just turned his head to look at Mac's partner when Jack's fist immediately pushed it the other way with such force that Wilder was knocked off his feet.

"Stand down Agent Dalton," one of the agents ordered, though he only sounded harsh to make his voice heard. He didn't blame Jack one bit for the punch, but he figured that if he let it go further than one punch, they probably wouldn't be able to recognize Wilder by the time Jack was done.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack muttered, looking very unapologetic. "If any of us so much as see your treacherous face again outside the courtroom, you're gonna be sorry," Jack warned. Wilder glared at the agent as he was hauled off, and he didn't break eye contact with Jack until they were out of sight of each other.

Once Mac was sure Anatoly and Wilder was secure with the agents, he hurried over to Anja, who had been released immediately when the American spies aimed their guns at her captor. Anja ran over to MacGyver, burying her head in his shoulder; he let out a pained groan, and she immediately drew back, her hands going over her mouth in shock and embarrassment.

"I am sorry," she said over and over.

"Hey, it's alright," Mac insisted gently, though his voice sounded slightly strained. "Come here," he said after a minute, wrapping his good arm around her comfortingly. "We're good," he assured her. "It's over."

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "You promise?" she asked. Mac looked around at the DXS agents rounding up the Russian mobsters and he looked back at her with a smile.

"Promise," he replied.

 _ **Soooo? Thoughts?**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Here we go...last chapter. It's definitely a bittersweet moment for me. I've been working on this story for a while now, so the fact that I'm closing its browser tab is a very strange feeling to me...**_

 _ **Longer AN at the bottom :)**_

 _ **Usual disclaimers, own nothing but my OC's :)**_

MacGyver, Jack, and Anja were waiting as the plane door opened and revealed Patricia Thornton. She stepped off the plane and walked towards her agents and their witness.

"What happened to staying put?" Thornton asked, her voice stern.

"Aw, c'mon Patty, we kinda had to make a run for it," Jack defended. "I mean, I'm good, but even I can't fight off an entire mob group! And since Mac only has use of one arm, and the fact that it was basically ten-to-one… you're joking with us," Jack realized after a minute of rambling. Thornton gave him a quick wink and walked over to Mac, whose arm had been put in an actual sling once the DXS agents had gotten Anatoly and Wilder loaded onto their truck and taken away.

"I can't send you two anywhere without something going wrong, can I?" she asked with a touch of humor in her eyes.

"Sorry," Mac apologized with a small smile. "We'll try to do better," he promised.

"Hmm," came Thornton's reply, though Mac could see she wasn't actually that upset. "I talked to the Russian police department," Thornton said. "I've cleared everything up; you're no longer wanted for murder," she promised.

"Well that is a relief," Jack cut in. "I was gettin' tired of runnin' for my life."

"It was barely twenty-four hours," Thornton reminded Jack dryly.

"Longest twenty-four hours of my life though," Jack argued. "Back me up on this, Mac!"

"I will admit that it was a long twenty-four hours, but not because we were wanted for murder," MacGyver said, gesturing at his injured arm. "I was more concerned about getting us out of the situation alive."

"Well, I mean, that's important too," Jack agreed. "But being wanted for murder was never on my bucket list," he added.

"But being chased, held captive and almost killed by the Russian mafia was?" MacGyver asked with raised eyebrows and a laugh threatening to come out.

"Y'know what, Mac?" Jack asked, making a frustrated face. "You could just let me have this one moment to gripe about being framed for murder," he whined.

"And I'm assuming this is Anja?" Thornton interrupted her two agents as she switched her gaze to the Russian woman.

"Yeah. Anja, this is our boss, Patricia Thornton," Mac introduced, gladly moving on from his argument with Jack. Anja smiled, and Thornton held out her hand for the Russian to shake.

"We're glad you're safe," Thornton said sincerely.

"It is only thanks to MacGyver and Jack," Anja promised, giving a grateful smile to the two agents. "I am just sorry your other agent did not survive," she added.

"Thank you," Thornton replied, her face falling a little at the mention of Agent Dunn. "But, if you're willing to testify against Wilder and Anatoly in court, he won't have died completely in vain," Thornton said, the question clear in her statement.

"Of course," Anja said, nodding her head emphatically. "I want these men off streets," she said firmly.

"Until the trial, we'll place you in protective custody," Thornton promised.

"How long will that be?" Anja asked, slightly hesitantly. She had a life, and while it wasn't perfect, it was hers, and she wanted to come back to it someday.

"No more than two weeks," Thornton said reassuringly. "We just need to make sure that you're kept safe from any after effects of what happened with Wilder and Popev," she explained. "The trial is set for two weeks from today, and once it's over, you can go back to your old life."

Anja nodded. Two weeks wasn't bad, and the least she could do for the Americans who saved her life was to testify against the men they had caught, and make sure they were put away for good.

0-0-0

Two Weeks Later, in Court

Thornton walked into the courtroom and spotted Mac, Jack, and Anja sitting on a bench. She walked over to them, and they scooted over to make room for the fourth person. Mac's arm was out of the sling, but he had been told that he was to treat his arm very carefully for the next few weeks. Thornton was interested to see how well that order would be followed.

"So?" Mac asked quietly as she settled in.

"We got the last of the mob members," Thornton reported with a satisfied look on her face. "Alex was rather talkative once we actually met face-to-face, and he told me where to find the last few of his friends."

"So after this, it's really over?" Mac asked, looking over at Anja, who was sitting on the other side of Jack, watching the front of the courtroom with apprehension.

"It's really over," Thornton confirmed. Mac sat back against the bench, a content expression settling on his face.

The trial progressed; Anja was called to testify against Anatoly and Nick Wilder regarding the murder of Agent Dunn, and Jack and Mac were called to give their statements as well. The trial was finished quickly after that; Anatoly and Wilder and all their men were taken to prison, and the small crowd that had gathered for the trial began dispersing.

Thornton walked over to Anja, who was picking up her jacket off of the bench. Thornton had a kind look in her eye as she spoke. "You did well up there," Patricia said sincerely. Anja drew in a deep breath and looked at Thornton, silently assuring herself that while the woman was intimidating, most Americans were like Mac and Jack. Not all of them were like Wilder.

"Thank you," she replied finally. "I am just glad it's over," she admitted. Thornton studied the Russian for a minute before speaking again.

"You know," she began. "You really handled yourself well, both out in the field, and here in court, better than most civilians," she informed Anja. "My organization could use a civilian informant in Russia from time to time," she said. "Would you be interested?"

Anja's eyes got a little wider as she understood what Thornton was saying. "You...you are offering me...job? Rabota?" she asked in clarification. Patricia nodded.

"It won't be much, only a little bit of contact every now and then," she explained. "You could keep your old life up; your job, your friends, and such, but if we ever needed anything in Russia, would you be willing to be a contact?" she asked. Anja thought for a minute, glancing around the room at the people leaving. She finally looked back at Thornton.

"Da," Anja said with a smile. "One...request?" she asked, not sounding sure on the last word.

"What would that be?" Thornton asked.

"I prefer only to work with MacGyver and Jack," Anja requested, though her tone of voice left it sounding like she really wasn't wanting to budge on that stipulation. Thornton smiled.

"I think that can be arranged," she replied, silently thinking to herself that Jack and Mac would hate the fact that they'd be the contacts always sent to Russia. "I don't think I need to tell you though that you can't tell anyone what it is we really do," Thornton reminded her.

"Of course not," Anja replied.

"Hey hey hey," Jack greeted as he and Mac approached the two women. Mac looked at Anja.

"You ready to get back to your life?" he asked warmly. She nodded enthusiastically.

"Da," she replied. "For just a minute, I want life to slow down and just let me be peaceful," she stated.

"You and me both," Mac said with a chuckle.

"Well, we'll be in touch soon," Thornton promised. "But we'll give it a little while, just to kind of let things settle down for you," she added. Mac and Jack looked excited.

"You took the offer?" Mac asked with a grin.

"I did," Anja said with a large smile.

"Congrats, chica!" Jack said, embracing the woman in a big hug. "Don't worry, with what you're doing, it's not gonna be as exciting as this go 'round," he said as they parted.

"I hope not," Anja admitted. "A little excitement is good, but this was…"

"Crazy?" Mac supplied with a smirk.

"Da," Anja said with a chuckle. "Crazy."

Thornton watched her agents and their new Russian friend interact. The past two weeks had been stressful ones for the Russian woman, but she was resilient; Thornton had complete faith that this deal they had with Anja would be a successful one. They had Wilder, they had Anatoly, and while Agent Dunn had lost his life, Thornton was going to make sure that he wasn't forgotten. Thornton's agents were her family, and as she watched Jack and MacGyver talking with Anja, she promised herself that she would do everything in her power to keep the rest of her family as safe as she could.

 _ **Oh my. There it is, the end of Anja's backstory! Was it what you guys hoped for? Completely different than what you expected? Also, sorry if that last paragraph is really weird or cheesy, I'm just still upset about Thornton and trying to compensate for the writers and their betrayal of us with her character XD**_

 _ **I can't believe how long this story turned out; I was originally going to end it right around when Mac and Anja escaped the first time, but I realized that wasn't the right ending for this story. So what was originally only like, 15k words ended up being 27k instead, and the final page count after all the final edits was 50! This is my longest story yet, and it just makes me so happy that people enjoyed it so much!**_

 _ **I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Was it too long? Too drawn out? Too similar to my other stories (cuz I'm predictable like that)? Let me know your final thoughts!**_

 _ **Also, there's an inkling of a sequel idea in my brain, but I've got many other projects that I'm working on. Several prompts, and several of my own ideas that I wanna get out first. But would a sequel be something that you all are interested in, or do you think I should give Anja a break for a while?**_

 _ **Let me know, and thank you all again so much for the support you've shown me during this story, and honestly just in general! I love you all! See you soon!**_


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